Transportation
VDOT Awards Latest I-81 Improvement Contract
The Virginia Dept. of transportation's planned 3.2-mile I-81 project is the first part of a larger improvement effort along a mountainous 9-mile section near the town of Ironto.
The Virginia Dept. of Transportation has awarded the team of Triton Construction Inc. and Rinker Design Associates LLC the latest contract in its ongoing $4-billion program to enhance safety and capacity along the state’s 325-mile Interstate 81 corridor. Set to begin construction in spring 2027, the $237.75-million project calls for adding a travel lane in each direction along a 3.2-mile segment of the existing four-lane highway in Roanoke County and the City of Salem.
The planned 3.2-mile project is the first part of a larger improvement effort along a mountainous 9-mile section of I-81 near the town of Ironto. The second, 3-mile segment is currently in the procurement process, VDOT says, with a contract award expected later this year and construction to get underway by early 2028. The agency expects to begin procurement for the remaining 2.8-mile segment this fall, with all work in the section targeted for completion by 2035. Along with the additional travel lanes, the projects will include replacing bridges, improving ramps, installing concrete barrier walls and constructing sound walls in some locations.
A key north-south backbone of the East Coast’s freight network through the eastern Appalachian Mountains, Interstate 81 has Virginia’s highest per-capita heavy truck volume, with approximately 1.4-billion truck vehicle miles traveled annually, VDOT says. With the growing truck traffic contributing to increased congestion and crash incidents that have resulted in lengthy closures of the highway, the agency in 2018 launched a capital improvement program (CIP) consisting of operational improvements and 65 construction projects such as acceleration/deceleration lane extensions, new auxiliary and truck-climbing lanes and curve improvements.
One of the CIP’s largest projects currently underway is a six-year, $479-million upgrade of a 7-mile section in Roanoke and Botetourt Counties being carried out by Branch Civil. Scheduled for completion in summer 2031, the widening project also includes ramp improvements at three interchanges, four bridge-pair replacements and improving vertical clearance beneath another crossing.
This spring, Triton Construction will begin a six-year, $219-million widening of a six-mile segment of I-81 at Harrisonburg, Va. The project also includes replacing nine bridges, a new concrete barrier separating north- and southbound traffic, stormwater improvements and replacement of a signalized crossing of the highway with a roundabout.
VDOT has started planning separate widening and bridge replacements in the Winchester-Frederick County area. The agency plans to award an estimated $240-million design-build contract in early 2027 for a four-mile widening project north of Winchester that also includes reconstruction of an existing interchange. A separate, nearly five-mile widening project to the south of the city, is planned for later in the decade, and will likely use design-bid-build, VDOT says.
With the CIP’s original projects complete or in development, VDOT has identified another 22 future improvement projects that will be scheduled over a 10-year period beginning in 2035 as funding becomes available.
