Trucker Friendly
Big Rig Drivers Rate I-81 As A Favorite
By Kelly Jasper
HARRISONBURG — Roads like this one are battlegrounds for a reason.
Interstate 81 rides like an ice-skating rink flanked with pretty views and cops who don’t meddle, says Buck Winn. The truck driver says he travels I-81 enough to know he’s caught a break when he’s hauling along this stretch of road.
Turns out, truckers around the United States agree with him. Overdrive, a business-oriented monthly magazine for owner-operators, released a survey that ranks Virginia’s stretch of I-81 as one of the top five roads in the country.
The survey, based on 400 reader responses, also ranked Virginia fifth for best overall roads. But truckers also found the state to be the fourth-worst for overnight truck parking, and also the third-toughest for truck inspections and law enforcement.
Over the years, it seems word of I-81’s benefits spread through the trucking industry, said Winn, a 49-year-old driver who was hauling a load of beer to Pennsylvania when he stopped in Harrisonburg on Tuesday.
He says more and more trucks hit the road every year. The Virginia Department of Transportation has the stats to back it up.
And that’s just the thing that upsets some Valley residents, who aren’t very shy about voicing their concerns. VDOT officials say they often receive comments — some good, some bad — on the interstate and the trucks that travel it.
The department stirred up controversy last year with talk of toll roads and expansion. Winn, though, said he never heard much of the talk traveling through.
On Tuesday he stopped at the Southside Diner, a 24-hour truckstop off the interstate on the south end of Harrisonburg.
He’s one of dozens of drivers to fill the retro restaurant every day, and one of several to say he doesn’t need a survey to know I-81 is good for truckers: “It’s a good running road. You can look out the window and just see that.”
‘It’s Nerve-Racking’
It’s no wonder some motorists don’t like the trucks, says Megan Gallagher, director of the Shenandoah Valley Network, which campaigns about land-use and transportation issues.
It’s nerve-racking,” she said. “We don’t want to accommodate more trucks.”
VDOT statistics show that truck traffic on I-81 is already higher than the road was designed to carry.
Depending on which sector of the corridor you dissect, truck traffic accounts for 20 to 40 percent of total traffic, according to VDOT. The road was meant to handle about 15 percent.
“I can’t think of anywhere in the U.S. that I’ve seen the same concentration of trucks,” says Kim Sandum, president of the Community Alliance for Preservation, which has campaigned on interstate-related issues. “You really feel like you’re rolling along with four walls around you.”
In Harrisonburg, the proportion of trucks is lower because of the volume of traffic that travels through the city. Trucks here average 27 percent of daily road volume — which totals 48,000 vehicles a day.
In Augusta County, by comparison, trucks top out at 32 percent of traffic volume, because the total number of vehicles on the road is lower, about 41,700 a day.
Laura Southard, a VDOT public affairs manager, says it’s safe to estimate upward of 100,000 trucks a week.
Do the math and you’ll learn “there are literally millions of trucks on 81 each year,” Southard says.
‘I’ll Stick To 81’
The reason for all the truck traffic comes as no surprise to VDOT officials. I-81 is clearly strategic, Southard says.
“It’s kind of a straight shot,” Southard says. “Truckers are moving freight from point A to point B. They want it that way.”
The highway is the best way to make that north-south connection, truckers said.
“It’s a good smooth road, not full of all the potholes like most of them are,” said Al Harris, 56, a driver heading to Lyndhurst for a load of meat that he’ll drive to Texas next.
Harris’ only complaint? The lack of parking, which Virginia ranked poorly on in the survey.
“You have to plan your time well,” the Florida native said. “Parking is at a premium. You don’t sleep here.”
The parking has never bothered Winn, who says he’ll drive 81 for as long as he can, meaning “unless they add some tolls.”
He remembers a load on Interstate 95, through the center of the state.
“It drives like a washboard,” he said. “I’ll stick to 81. Good places to eat, sleep. The cops pretty much leave you alone. Let you run 70 mph.”
So, while Winn can’t account for all the other trucks on the road, he says his isn’t going anywhere.
Southard knows that troubles some residents. She’s heard their concerns.
“Some people say they feel uncomfortable driving with all the trucks on the road,” Southard says. But, she adds, “We all have to learn to get along.”
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