I for one would like to get a cross-section of opinion from various forum members on this question:
Is the principal obstacle (besides the "universal" one of funding issues) to the development and completion of the I-73 corridor (a) continued local opposition or (b) disinterest and/or lower priority within state planning circles, including those of VDOT itself? And if a combination of these two, which one would or could be resolved first while the other would tend to persist?
There has been ample amounts of support, especially from Martinsville and Danville and those counties.
The one big obstacle as I have said many times, is THE COST. $4 billion.
But has there been support at the state level, as sparker asked, or only local/county?
I'd say more local / county level support over state level. In regards to large scale funding, the eastern part seems to get the majority of the limited money. After all, that's where the three largest metros in the state are located - Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond.
The I-81 Corridor Improvement Plan is the first large-scale project to be approved for the western part of the state in a long time, and even it is only addressing select areas, not the entire corridor's long-term need - 6-lane widening.
The US-58 corridor has also seen a decent amount of 4-lane widening, the entire corridor east to west seeing over $1 billion in improvements in the past 30 years, at least 50 miles of widening and the remaining planned in the next decade east of I-77.
As far as I-73 itself, no funding has been allocated to construction since its inception in 1991, and no -new- miles has been built.