By Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Gov. Glenn Youngkin stopped by the Salem District office of the Virginia Department of Transportation on Sept. 10 to meet with local officials about efforts to expedite I-81 lane widening between Roanoke and Botetourt counties.
Youngkin noted that work will be done over the next 10 years to make I-81 safer. He stressed that the push to make the interstate safer is important due to its economic contribution to the region. Lane widening, he said, will “unlock the whole region.”
The visit comes after the Commonwealth Transportation Board awarded a design-build contract to Branch Civil Inc. that is valued at $361.6 to widen northbound and southbound Interstate 81 to three lanes between exit 143 in Roanoke County to exit 150 in Botetourt County.
This widening project is part of the Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Program (CIP), which aims to improve safety, increase reliability and foster economic growth. It is one of the largest and most complex I-81 CIP projects and includes replacing eight bridges on I-81 and installing more than 8,500 feet of sound barrier along the northbound lanes.
“This is a big step forward,” Dave Covington, I-81 program delivery director for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said at the time. “It is the largest contract that we’ve awarded for I-81 to date, and it reinforces our commitment to improving this vital corridor.”
“VDOT has a long history of working with Branch Civil, and we look forward to a continued strong partnership to successfully deliver a project of this magnitude,” said Ken King, district engineer for VDOT’s Salem District.
The new lanes will be built on the existing right and left shoulders of I-81 with most of widening to take place in the median. At exit 150, the ramp from northbound Route 220 (Roanoke Road) onto southbound I-81 will be realigned and the southbound I-81 off ramp will be modified to connect with Route 220 at a new signal at Tinker Mountain Road. Interchange lighting will be installed at exits 141, 143 and 150.
