ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: VERONA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
ADDING LANES and rest areas to the highway may mollify truckers and other users, but the estimated price tag is $1.5 billion.
Widening Interstate 81 in Western Virginia would cost as much as it did to build the freeway 30 years ago, Augusta County's chief planner estimates.
``When they built it, there were open fields. Now they'll have to buy rights of way and widen bridges,'' said Dale Cobb, director of community development for the county.
Cobb and other officials examined maps Wednesday and discussed plans to broaden I-81 with Virginia Department of Transportation officials.
Widening the busy stretch of highway that courses through the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains would cost nearly $1.5 billion, one VDOT official estimated.
Designs for widening the interstate should be complete in 18 months, and a series of public hearings on the project will be scheduled after that.
``Two consulting firms have been hired [and] a third is being advertised for,'' said Byron Coburn, a VDOT construction engineer in Staunton.
Coburn said Wednesday's meeting was held to get input from highway users on what should be included in the planning phases.
``I'm mostly hearing [suggestions] to add trucking lanes and additional rest areas,'' he said.
Truckers have been particularly frustrated by the heavy traffic and narrow lanes and shoulders along I-81, said Dale Bennett, executive vice president of the Virginia Trucking Association.
``When 81 was originally built, nobody objected to the traffic we had at the time,'' Bennett said. But traffic increases have prompted complaints from the association's members and other motorists, he said.
``They should have done this 10 years ago to get these projects going,'' said Wayne Swisher, manager of Don B. Swisher Trucking of Mint Spring.
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