Interesting article here. I can't believe the state is considering buying 2 truck stops and closing them!
VDOT mulls fixes for Exit 150
The interchange linking I-81, U.S. 220 and U.S. 11 is famously snarled with heavy truck traffic.
By Rex Bowman
777-3523
In an effort to untie the traffic knot at Interstate 81's Exit 150 -- known to madden even the most mellow of motorists -- the state's transportation agency may close the northbound Exit 150A off-ramp.
The move -- with funding now available but still years away -- would force northbound motorists on I-81 to take Exit 150B, the long, looping ramp that runs north of the Travel Centers of America truck stop in Botetourt County on the east side of the interstate.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is preparing to show the public six possible solutions to the area's traffic problem on Thursday.
Five of the fixes under consideration call for closing the 150A off-ramp, while the sixth proposal under consideration calls for the state to simply buy the 13-acre truck stop and another 2-acre truck stop across U.S. 11, close them down, and keep the traffic patterns the way they are.
Shutting down the Travel Centers truck stop and the Pilot Oil Corp. truck stop would eliminate a major portion of the truck traffic along the road that currently contributes to daily traffic tie-ups in the area.
Tom Liutkus, spokesman for Travel Centers in Westlake, Ohio, said the company would have to evaluate all the plans before determining which is in its best interest.
Botetourt County Administrator Jerry Burgess also said county officials haven't studied the alternative proposals in enough detail yet to comment. "We're still digesting them."
The six proposals being looked at range in cost from an estimated $11.8 million to an estimated $21.6 million, said Heidi Underwood, spokeswoman for VDOT's Salem office. The agency has marked $20 million for the project, but the money won't be available until 2015 under the agency's current funding plan. Public hearings would begin in the spring of 2011. Even though there's no construction money in the budget until 2015, the transportation agency has targeted the spring of 2012 to begin work.
Underwood said VDOT engineers and Botetourt County officials have been meeting since November to develop the plans. They came up with 10 possible ways to solve the area's traffic problems, then whittled the 10 down to six.
According to documents VDOT plans to show the public Thursday at a 5 p.m. informational meeting at Lord Botetourt High School, the options break down this way:
* Proposal 1 would close the northbound Exit 150A ramp. Also, southbound motorists on U.S. 220 would no longer be able to use that road's northbound entrance ramp onto the interstate. Only northbound motorists on U.S. 220 could access that on-ramp. A second on-ramp for northbound I-81 traffic would be built north of the Travel Centers truck stop, running from U.S. 11 to the interstate. The cost would be an estimated $11.8 million.
* Proposal 1A is similar to Proposal 1, but it would also include a median strip on U.S. 11 north of U.S. 220 to prevent left-hand turns into the truck stops' parking lots. The truck stops would be acquired. The total cost would be an estimated $21.6 million.
* Proposal 1B calls for the state to acquire the truck stops and do nothing else. The cost would be an estimated $13.7 million.
* Proposal 3 would also close the northbound Exit 150A ramp. Northbound interstate traffic would exit at 150B, but instead of having to turn north or south on U.S. 11 at the end of the exit ramp, motorists could travel across U.S. 11 and move southeast along a new "loop road" to finally come out on U.S. 220 east of U.S. 11. A new on-ramp to the interstate would be built north of the truck stop. The project would cost an estimated $21.4 million.
* Proposal 3A would be identical to Proposal 3, but would also include a median barrier along U.S. 11 to prevent left-hand turns into the truck stops' parking lots. The project would cost an estimated $17.5 million.
* Proposal 4 would create a new interstate on-ramp north of Travel Centers and close the on-ramp on U.S. 220. It would cost an estimated $11.8 million.
VDOT mulls fixes for Exit 150 - Roanoke.com
Virginia DOT "fixes" 81
