Sunday, May 28, 2006
Editorial: Plan the right improvements for I-81
The Virginia Department of Transportation should await the findings of the state's Rail Advisory Board before dismissing an I-81 rail component.
From the RoundTable blog
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Spending part of Memorial Day weekend sandwiched between tractor-trailers crawling along Interstate 81 is certainly no one's idea of a picnic.
The inevitable snags that force motorists to cool their engines and their tempers might allow a thought, poisoned by the fumes of congestion, to creep in: The Department of Transportation could be on to something with plans to add at least four more lanes along I-81. Heck, why not pave the entire Shenandoah Valley? Anything -- even a handsome toll --to keep moving.
Of course once traffic again moves freely, the thought flits away. It's really just all this extra freight. I-81 wasn't built to handle this heavy of a truck load. Problem is, if nothing is done, traffic, such as the 58,000 vehicles traveling each day through the Roanoke Valley, will double by 2035. But can Virginia pave its way out of this jam?
Is there a choice? Rail advocates think so. They'd like to see a re-emergence of a 600-mile rail line between Knoxville, Tenn., and Harrisburg, Pa., with Roanoke, and its upcoming intermodal yard, in between.
Members of Rail Solution push the idea. As persuasive as their arguments are, they lack a good, comprehensive study that can add heft to the debate. They are about to get it. The question is whether it will be soon enough to make a difference.
Recently, Gov. Tim Kaine signed into law a bill that directs the transportation secretary and the Rail Advisory Board to get cracking on a comprehensive feasibility plan and a cost analysis to determine what it would take to divert freight off I-81 and onto the rail.
The legislation doesn't set a deadline, suggesting instead that it be completed "as quickly as reasonably possible."
The information is vital to the environmental review process currently under way on the I-81 corridor. In fact, the deadline for comments on the initial draft impact statement is set to close tomorrow, on Memorial Day. While VDOT has received a rail yard full of comments that promote a rail component, the study itself failed to seriously consider rail.
Without the Rail Advisory Board's information, it is impossible for VDOT responsibly to eliminate rail as one of the alternatives for alleviating I-81's congestion and safety hazards.
Waiting for the information could delay the process, which might steam frequent users, but it is just as important to do this right as to get it done.
