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Virginia is taking the lead to getting states in the Interstate 81 corridor to think long term. “The hope there is that we can start to pull together a consensus,” said Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton, who convened a meeting of transporation leaders from Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania on Wednesday in Salem. Virginia…
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Special Report by Chris Graham [email protected] You might remember all the hubbub over what they were planning to do with Interstate 81. They were going to pave over the Valley! That was what people were saying, anyway, looking at the monstrosities of plans that we knew as the Star Solutions proposal and the Fluor…
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Staff Report News Tips: [email protected] The draft report of Virginia’s Interstate 81 Freight Rail Study was issued today for public comment by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the Virginia Department of Transportation. DRPT, in cooperation with the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, was directed by the Commonwealth Transportation Board…
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Story by Chris Graham [email protected] A coalition of advocacy groups that filed a federal lawsuit last year to block the proposed $11.4 billion widening of Interstate 81 filed a motion in federal court in Charlottesville last week seeking a positive judgment in the case. “We have asked the court to require that (the Virginia Department…
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Item by Chris Graham [email protected] Nighttime paving on Interstate 81 in Rockingham County beginning tonight may cause delays for motorists traveling in the work zone. The paving operations will be in the northbound lanes from mile marker 236 near the Rockingham/Augusta line to mile marker 240 near the Bridgewater/Mount Crawford exit. The paving work will…
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Item by Chris Graham [email protected] A wide load, indeed. A 28-foot-wide steel structure will be making its way up Interstate 81 from Southwest Virginia on its way to Baltimore this week, making traveling on the I-81 corridor more adventurous than usual.
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Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The New Jersey Turnpike in the Shenandoah Valley. That’s what critics of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Interstate 81 widening plan envision happening if the engineers get their wishes. “For us, our mission is to protect farms, forests, open spaces and cultural heritage – and this is impacting all of…
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Op-Ed by Kim Sandum Just before Christmas, some of the people I work with sued the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration over plans to expand I-81. It needed to be done. The story of I-81 is a cautionary tale for the rest of Virginia about a state agency that too often…
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Story by Chris Graham [email protected] A lawsuit is not a great option when your goal is to get government to reconsider what it’s doing relative to a road project. But the group that filed suit in federal court in Charlottesville on Monday to block further movement toward a massive reconstruction of Interstate 81 in Western…
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Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The short-term worry is about a planned seven-mile improvement project on Interstate 81 in Rockbridge County. The longer-term worry is about the rest of the 325 miles of I-81 in Western Virginia. “That’s the biggest concern that I have – because this seven-mile project, while it is overly broad, and…
