Interstate 81 (TN to NY) to be 8-lanes??

[Guest Shaffer]

This is not a direct automotive topic, but deals with transportation:<P><BR>I have heard that I-81 (that runs from about 30 miles east of Knoxville to the New York/Canada border) is going to be made into 8-lanes. Does anyone else live in the I-81 area, that has heard about this in their area? I heard it would take more than 20 years to complete. In southwest Virginia, they are currently making it a 6-lane, so if the 8-lane is in the future, it will mean MORE construction in the SW Virginia area.<p>[ 04-17-2002: Message edited by: Shaffer ]

[Guest]

I'm from the Los Angeles area and I think any freeway expansion is a good idea...go figure.

[Guest]

I too think Road/Highway expansion is a good thing, what I dislike is how CalTrans handles the entire matter... Sometimes I'd like to mow down a couple to make a point, ya know? (note to caltrans: wear a buick shirt and no harm will come to you) <P>my few cents worth..<P>Scott

[86 2dr.ltd]

Highway work is good for working class.<P>Population expansion is not good for anything.<P>Thank goodness there will be enough country to finish out my life.

[Guest John Chapman]

...uh... there are interstate hiways with less than eight lanes? How abysimally primative.....<P>JMC<BR>Multilane SoCal Road Rat

[Dave@Moon]

Most city planners will tell you that highway expansion <I>creates</I> conjestion more than it alleviates it. It does this by immediately encouraging development in excess of the capacity of the expansion. <P>Also, I just don't see the need of eight lanes for at least the stretch between Pine Grove and Hazelton PA. Except for I-99, I-81 is probably the least traveled major interstate in PA!

[radionut98]

I've been on I-81 between Scranton PA and where it connects with I-77 to Charlotte NC and I see no reason for it to be 8 lanrs. Even in the hight of tourist season there isn't that much traffic. The biggest improvement anyone has made is the scranton junction with I-84 on I-81 much better now. Loren 56 Buick Century Riviera

[rocketraider]

The I-81 thing is from expected future traffic load, especially after I-73 and I-785 become reality. Right now I-81 and I-77 parallel in SWVA and I-81 and I-64 parallel from Staunton to Lexington. I-73 will add even more when it connects Roanoke to NC along the current US220 corridor (which NEEDS upgrading badly) and the I-785 spur will connect Danville to Greensboro NC and that is gonna make US29 traffic unreal, since the trucks will then leave 81 for 29. Especially if the I-81 truck toll thing goes thru.<P>I drive the stretch of I-85/I-40 between Raleigh and Greensboro frequently. 75 miles of 6 lane highway and everything running wide-ass-open. Sometimes, if I have time, I get on US 70 just to get away from it. We did the 1995 Olds Nationals in Greensboro and recommended people coming from points north use US29 instead of I-95/I-85/I-40 since traffic would be way less hectic. One guy trailered a car along that route, expecting NC to be bucolic and laid-back. His comment upon arrival was that DC and NOVA didn't have a thing on the traffic he'd fought from Durham to Greensboro.<P>And yes, though we may be backwoods and primitive here in the South we have traffic same as the rest of the world. And we just LOVE to "Gomer" those not from here...

[Guest John Chapman]

Rocket Raider...<P>I grew up in the swamps of South Georgia, so that'd make you a Yankee, right? As I remember it, it took a decade to complete the segment of I-95 from South Carolina to Jacksonville because the roadbed had to be dredged, stablized and compacted before the road could be constructed.<P>With all the semi traffic on the interstates, I don't think you can have too many lanes. I prefer them at least two lanes away from me....<P>Cheers,<BR>JMC

[Guest]

If they wanted to create an 8 lane from Harrisburg Pa. north to the Canadian border, it would cost triple the national debt in blasting agents.

[rocketraider]

Sho' ya right, John! I always define Yankee by how they say "y'all"- for some reason it either comes out "yull" or "you guys" but no problem as long as we can all laugh at ourselves and understand each other. We speak the universal language of oldcarese.<P>We traveled 81 coming back from Carlisle Saturday and southbound traffic was honestly not bad. Northbound however was a different story, complicated even more by a three car pileup near Winchester VA. Northbound was backed up nearly ten miles. I learned long ago to keep a DeLorme map in the car and use it to get around such messes. The big concern about 81 in VA is the volume of truck traffic it's carrying- currently about 80% more than it was designed for, which provoked VDOT to explore additional lanes and to start rumbling about truck-only tolls the entire 323-mile length. That's scary, because to cut expenses, truckers will get off the toll roads and onto US and state highways, which sure weren't designed for trucks. And we'll be in ever closer quarters with them on the smaller roads.