ROANOKE — Virginia could eliminate about one in three trucks from Interstate 81 with extensive — and expensive — rail improvements, a consultant says.
Given the high cost and logistical barriers to such a plan, however, the consultant endorses a more modest approach that will shift fewer trucks — perhaps one in seven — much to the disappointment of some railroad supporters.
Three years in the making at a cost of $75,000, the December report from consultant Cambridge Systematics recommends Virginia stick to its present plan to address truck congestion on I-81: funding the Crescent Corridor.
The Crescent Corridor is a proposed new intermodal rail service under which Norfolk Southern Corp. intends to expand its rail system to better compete with, and integrate with, highway trucking.
The corridor is designed to link the southern freight hubs of New Orleans and Memphis, Tenn., with those in New Jersey.
Construction of $2.5 billion worth of terminals, track and other elements, which began in 2008, could reach the end of phase one in 2011 or 2012 and allow for the start of limited service, NS says.
Even before the report arrived, Virginia had pledged $95 million to construction of parts of the Virginia leg of the 2,500-mile corridor as the state’s strategy to alleviate heavy truck traffic on I-81. That’s the way to go, Cambridge says.
A draft of the report, “Feasibility Plan for Maximum Truck to Rail Diversion in Virginia’s I-81 Corridor,” is open for public comment through Wednesday, after which the final version will be issued.
The report’s chief finding is that the Crescent Corridor could shift about 13.5 percent of trucks off I-81 onto train tracks that run north and south through the western and central parts of the state.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement