Conservation Groups Sue to Block Interstate 81 Road-Widening Plan

By REX BOWMAN

A coalition of conservation groups is suing the federal highway agency to stop Virginia from implementing any plan to widen Interstate 81 to eight or more lanes.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, contends that if I-81 were widened from Bristol through Winchester, it would destroy 7,400 acres of developed land, 1,062 acres of farmland, between 1,600 and 2,400 homes, 662 businesses and 1,238 acres of Civil War battlefields.

The suit also seeks to quash the Virginia Department of Transportation’s effort to win federal permission to charge tolls on I-81 to pay for roadwork.

“It would be the first-ever toll on a federal highway that’s already paid for, and there was a very real danger that those tolls would go into effect next year if we didn’t file this lawsuit,” said Megan Gallagher, director of the Shenandoah Valley Network, one of the groups that filed the suit.

A coalition of construction companies called Star Solutions had proposed adding four lanes or more the entire length of the 325- mile interstate, a project that would have cost between $13 billion to $19 billion. In October 2006, though, the Commonwealth Transportation Board authorized a dramatically smaller plan, one that calls for more lanes on only 12 stretches of the interstate and longer on- and off-ramps at certain spots.

“Those are our marching orders,” said VDOT spokeswoman Laura Southard of the short-term fixes, adding that the agency is not currently pursuing any plan that calls for widening I-81 along its entire length.

But Gallagher said state planning documents still insist that at least four new lanes are needed along 69 percent of the interstate, while two new lanes are needed along the rest of the road. The suit, Gallagher said, targets the Federal Highway Administration because it approved the state planning documents in June.

Joining the Shenandoah Valley Network in filing the suit were the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Fishers Hill farmer Larry Allamong.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Highway Administration said agency officials do not comment on lawsuits.

Why it matters

I-81 runs 325 miles through western Virginia and serves as a major corridor for trucks hauling goods between the North and South. Increasing truck traffic has led to congestion at some spots.

— Contact Rex Bowman at (540) 244-2612 or rbowman@timesdispatch.com.

MEMO: MAP WITH STORY IN STATE EDITION, PAGE A-8.

Originally published by Times-Dispatch Staff Writer.

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