Virginia making progress on Interstate 81 improvements

Donald Trump had an “Infrastructure Week” that ran the length of his first term. Virginia has been kicking the can down the road on Interstate 81 for a lot longer.

I’ve been writing about the need for I-81 improvements since Mark Warner was governor, so, we’re talking 20 years, more, there.

Bob McDonnell’s bright idea was public-private partnerships that would include tolls.

I don’t remember Terry McAuliffe or Ralph Northam having any particularly bright ideas, so, I shouldn’t criticize McDonnell.

The holdup to getting things done has always been Republicans’ unwillingness to commit the money.

Credit here to Glenn Youngkin for getting his MAGA party to agree to spend a little toward what we need.

“I’m proud of the collective work with the General Assembly over the last three and a half years to allocate an additional $245 million towards Interstate 81 improvements,” said Youngkin, who has had to work with both Republican-majority and Democratic-majority General Assemblies to get the dollars flowing during his term as governor.

The investment in the Youngkin years goes toward the estimated $4 billion total project cost, which, from a review of the revisions to the project documents over the years, increases in bottom-line costs a few hundred million dollars every year, both from new identified needs and increases in construction costs from outside forces.

Improvements cost a lot – widening just the four-mile stretch between Exit 243 and Exit 247 in Harrisonburg, for instance, comes with a $320 million price tag.

Closer to home for us, the project to widen a four-mile stretch in the Staunton area, between Exit 221 and Exit 225, is going to cost us $140.5 million.

Republicans like to talk about running government like a business, but roads don’t directly make money back, unless you put tolls on them, which drivers don’t like.

This has been their excuse for kicking the can down the road.

My guess is, they’re more willing to spend the money when it’s one of their guys who can take credit.

To that end, there’s still much to accomplish here – of the 65 construction projects in the I-81 Corridor Improvement Program, 37 projects have been completed, including three truck-climbing lanes, eight curve improvements, and 26 merge-lane extensions at challenging interchanges.

Which means, we’ve got 28 more to go, with 14 of those currently under way, including additional travel lanes near Bristol, Salem, Staunton and Strasburg, new truck-climbing lanes at the Augusta-Rockingham county line, and interchange improvements in the Wytheville area.

By early 2026, construction on major widening projects in the Roanoke and Harrisonburg areas will begin. Design and engineering work are underway for additional travel lanes near Winchester, in Rockbridge County, and between Salem and Christiansburg.

All of the projects currently in the Interstate 81 CIP are scheduled for completion by 2035.

That’s assuming, of course, that state legislators don’t change their minds on providing the necessary funding in future budget years.

I’d also be concerned that the Trump administration will renege on federal transportation spending in future years if Virginia, as expected, votes blue in this year’s gubernatorial election.

Details of the current I-81 CIP and the 2025 corridor study can be found at Improve81.org.