Transportation leaders hear I-81 concerns, appeals for funding (copy) (copy) (copy)
Comments were made to the Commonwealth Transportation Board during their meeting on Thursday at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon.
Virginia Secretary of Transportation Nick Donohue talks about what they have heard so far from locals concerning VDOT.
ABINGDON, Va. – State transportation leaders heard concerns about Interstate 81 and other topics Thursday during a public listening session regarding the state's draft six-year funding plan.
On Thursday, state leaders including Secretary of Transportation Nick Donohue, VDOT Commissioner Stephen Brich and DRPT’s Emily Stock joined local Commonwealth Transportation Board member Tom Fowlkes and Bristol District Engineer Tabitha Crowder to host the annual event.
It was one of nine such sessions occurring across the state this month, prior to the CTB finalizing the spending plan which begins July 1.
Kalen Hunter, Virginia Tourism's Senior Destination Development Manager, talks to the Commonwealth Transportation Board during their meeting on Thursday.
Among the concerns they heard about were ongoing congestion on Interstate 81, the need for more funding for the Coalfields Expressway and the need for an additional mile of climbing lanes on a segment of U.S. 58 in a mountainous area near the border of Scott and Lee counties.
“I would implore you all, when we get the chance, we need to six-lane I-81,” Washington County Board of Supervisors Chair Dwayne Ball said. “That one road puts a lot of pressure on our emergency services. The last figures I saw, I-81 has more truck traffic than all the other interstates in Virginia combined. I don’t know if that still holds true but it certainly seems that way.”
Several I-81 projects in Southwest Virginia are concluding, including the widening between exits 7 and 10 near Bristol and a bridge project in Smyth County.
“Those represent the final projects that were part of the original I-81 corridor improvement plan, which I helped put together in 2018 and 2019,” Donohue said after the meeting. “After that we’ll be moving to the second phase of the I-81 corridor plan. I do want to stress there’s a few more years before we get there.”
Donohue said one major phase one project near Roanoke is still under construction.
“We will be moving to phase two in a few years, but it is a few years away,” he said.
One of those includes additional widening of I-81.
“As it currently stands, projects in the second round of the Interstate 81 funding for the Bristol district include the widening of Interstate 81 between Bristol and Exit 14 in Abingdon and multiple acceleration lane projects in Washington County,” Crowder said.
Locally, the draft six-year plan includes $745 million in allocations for Southwest Virginia between 2027 and 2032, with $160 million for work in the upcoming fiscal year, Crowder said.
The complete draft 2027-2032 six-year plan is valued at $28 billion with $20.6 billion allocated for 4,200 highway construction projects, Brich said.
“The draft six-year improvement program promotes significant investments across the Commonwealth,” Brich said. “It includes $500 million for new, structurally deficient bridges – 43 in total; over $78 million to address deficient pavement on VDOT’s system and localities systems; $11 million dedicated for new innovation technology transportation improvements, $239 million revenue-sharing state allocations that will go to supporting 143 new or existing projects and over $85 million in new transportation alternatives.”
Donohue said there is an overarching effort to address safety.
Until 2025, Virginia was averaging over 900 highway fatalities each year. Last year, the total was 825, which he called still “too many.”
“Some of it is infrastructure and some of it is choices we all make when we get behind the wheel,” Donohue said.
“We are looking all ways to try to make our roadways safer,” Donohue said. “In 2020, we changed the way we were making safety investments – systemic investments where we can make improvements to a lot of different places. Instead of focusing on one particular intersection or segment of road, we can look at 1,000 lane-miles where we’re seeing a lot of run-off-the-road crashes and put in edge line rumble strips.
