Maybe they can finally concentrate on widening I-81 throughout the state.
That's a project that has great merit regardless of what happens (or does not happen) with I-73. Most of I-81 in the Commonwealth ought to be six or eight lanes wide.
I agree, but sadly I-81 seems to get the same treatment in VA that I-95 gets in NC.
Hell, I don't think parts of I-581 (I-73's routing) in Roanoke even meets current interstate standards.
I-81 is a very schizophrenic highway. There are times when it is bumper to bumper in both lanes for miles in both directions and there are times when it barely has any traffic. This can even occur within a couple of miles on the same trip, from being in a slug of traffic to being almost alone. The most bizarre thing I've seen was an almost totally vacant highway. We were returning from Vermont on a New Year's Eve and stopped for a late dinner in Winchester. It was about 9 p.m. when we got back on the road and for most of the way south we were the only car on the road. We were climbing Christiansburg Mountain when midnight hit.
Presumably you had the benefit of not having to share I-81 southbound with hundreds of commercial vehicles on New Years Eve.
At the north end of I-81 (roughly from Woodstock to the West Virginia border), WTOP Radio in Washington now reports wrecks on that part of the system. Last week, there was a pretty bad truck crash between Exit 323 (VA-669) and the West Virginia border (it was just north of 669 but still in Virginia) that led to a total shut-down of the northbound lanes, and loads of spillover traffic onto U.S. 11, and plenty of gridlocked intersections. Many of the interchanges along I-81 could use reconstruction (perhaps the worst in this section of I-81 being at I-66 (I-81 Exit 300), which is somewhat newer than the rest of I-81 but still has many issues, starting with that brutal left-hand merge from I-66 westbound to I-81 southbound).
But these days, there are more times that traffic is almost overwhelming the capacity of the road. Throw in the daily wreck that slows or stops traffic and more lanes would help. The three lanes southbound from Ironto to the Christiansburg exit at MP 119 have made a great difference in keeping traffic moving (except when a wreck covers all three lanes). There was a great deal of noise a number of years ago about improving the highway across multiple states, but about all that came of that was the improvement program at Bristol and a handful of bridge and climbing lane projects. Harrisonsburg, Winchester, and Roanoke would all benefit from additional lanes but the timing on any work is far in the future.
Agreed on all points. I
still think that
every state in the I-81 corridor should take a serious look at tolling for
all traffic, not just the "toll trucks only since that will not offend the Virginia General Assembly" scheme that fell apart about 10 years ago.
As to I-581, most of the main road isn't bad but it is plagued by VDOT's "instant on/instant off" ramps that don't allow an easy mix of traffic. South of Elm Avenue, where 581 ends and U.S. 220 continues, there are some curves that may not be up to interstate standards. Again, that highway follows the path of least resistance through an urban area. There isn't much choice to launch a new route for I-73 without a lot of expensive property condemnation. That will probably keep the project off the books for years to come.
I have not been on I-581 for a long time, but it did not seem that different from other (older) urban Virginia freeways such as I-64 in Hampton Roads and the RTP part of I-95 in Richmond.