Freight report proposes traffic efficiency ideas
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Recommend ThisLocal stretches of Interstate 66 and Interstate 81 named as trouble spots
By Preston Knight - pknight@nvdaily.com
A new freight study attempts to guide Virginia transportation officials toward implementing strategies that will generate significant travel and economic benefits.
But there is one bit of old news packed in -- Interstate 66, west of Interstate 495 and between Front Royal and Interstate 81, and most of I-81 from Radford to the West Virginia border, are freight transportation bottlenecks.
The study, submitted by Cambridge Systematics Inc. for the Virginia Department of Transportation Multimodal Transportation Planning Office, identifies the projects that are most important to freight movement, from the planned short-term work to potential long-term construction. It states numerous goals centered on creating effective freight movement policy and proposes a range of strategies, such as real-time 511 services for trucks and freight shippers that would relay an array of information, including rest area availability and routing recommendations, automated height monitoring for trucks and expanding multistate freight planning.
The local bottlenecks are not directly addressed in the study, unlike some in other portions of the state, but among the report's recommendations as "high-priority" projects is the completion of Norfolk Southern's Crescent Corridor, a 2,500-mile rail network supporting the supply chain from Memphis and New Orleans to New Jersey. The $38 million first phase, which would cost the state $26.6 million, would include straightening curves, adding sidings, and double tracking portions of the Shenandoah and Piedmont lines, as well as adding capacity between Manassas and Front Royal. Two other phases, totaling $476.2 million, are not yet funded, but are eyed for implementation by 2035, as is a $100 million enhancement to Virginia Inland Port near Front Royal.
Local advocates for increased rail, such as the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, have campaigned for the corridor project, citing it as a better alternative to widening I-81. Along other spots on the interstate, though, adding lanes is suggested, according to the study. For example, increasing the number of lanes from four to eight between Va. 641 south of Salem to U.S. 220 north of Roanoke would alleviate a bottleneck there, it states.
The study notes that within the I-81 corridor, nearly 80 percent of the total freight tonnage is hauled by truck, and more than 77 percent is through traffic.
As for I-66, the report often mentions the inland port, noting it has direct rail access to Norfolk International terminals and several major highways.
The movement of freight supports about $350 billion of Virginia's annual gross state product, the study states, and the freight plan improvements would "substantially" enhance the ability to move materials in an efficient, sustainable manner. Among the savings is $6.6 billion worth of time saved by cars and trucks on Virginia's highways because of reduced congestion.
To view the study, visit www.vtrans.org.
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