advertisement

---

Citizen advocacy group RAIL Solution recently submitted a plan to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) proposing a solution to traffic-congestion problems along Interstate 81.

Entitled "Maximize Rail, Minimize Road Expansion," the plan calls for building or upgrading a rail line — roughly parallel to I-81 — to move long-haul trailers and containers via rail instead of by highway, as proposed by a recent "STAR Solutions" plan that suggests adding four or more lanes of truck-dedicated highway to I-81.

The "Steel Interstate" grade-separated, double-tracked line would be designed to eliminate 70 percent of trucks traveling more than 500 miles on I-81 and other routes from Harrisburg, Pa., to Knoxville or Memphis, Tenn., and New Orleans.

"Our proposal would be less costly than the $13 billion STAR plan [and] would use far less land and one-third as much fuel," said RAIL Solution Chairman Rees Shearer in a prepared statement.

RAIL Solution members are asking VDOT officials to conduct a benefits/cost comparison between the Steel Interstate concept and road-building proposals before making a decision on how to improve the I-81 corridor.

RAIL Solution comprises about 200 citizens and members of several citizen organizations who've been studying the I-81 corridor for two years.