Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 4, 1993 TAG: 9306040237
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The fire was reported about 1:30 p.m. in the northbound tunnel at East River Mountain near the West Virginia line.
E.J. Lane, the motor home's driver, told authorities the truck backfired and lost power.
When he stepped out, he saw flames shooting out underneath the motor.
Flames were blocking both lanes of the northbound tunnel when firefighters arrived.
Traffic was backed up two to three miles.
The fire, which destroyed the motor home, was so hot that tiles were popping off the tunnel's side.
Lane, who was not injured, ran to alert tunnel attendants.
He was traveling from Florida to Ohio.
"Everything he owned was in the motor home," said Chief Richard Cumbow of the Green Valley, W.Va., Volunteer Fire Department.
Firefighters doused the blaze and the motor home was towed away.
The Virginia Department of Transportation predicted that the tunnel would be closed for at least 48 hours, and structural damage would require prolonged repairs.
Construction crews specializing in the removal of soggy or hot asphalt were traveling to the tunnel Thursday.
Laura Bullock, a Transportation Department spokeswoman, said about 1,000 feet of light fixtures in the tunnel were burned. Crews to install temporary lighting also were en route to the tunnel, Bullock said.
Bullock said only minor injuries were reported.
Police were rerouting northbound traffic Thursday afternoon onto Virginia 598 to U.S. 460 in West Virginia.
From there, motorists could get back on northbound I-77.
The rerouting of traffic was intended to ease the immediate congestion near the tunnel.
Highway officials hoped to work through the night to reroute both north and southbound travel through the southbound tunnel.
To ease the pressure on the heavily traveled interstate, highway officials were urging southbound travelers on Interstate 81 who wanted to go north on I-77 to leave the interstate at Exit 118 at Christiansburg and take U.S. 460 into West Virginia.
Northbound travelers on I-81 were encouraged to leave the interstate at Exit 14 near Abingdon and take Virginia 19 to West Virginia.
Thursday's fire created the second big bottleneck at tunnels along I-77 this year.
The March blizzard choked traffic, leaving hundreds stranded in the Big Walker Mountain tunnel in Bland County.
by CNB