Virginia’s portion of the Interstate 73 project is dead. Long live U.S. 220.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board voted to bring to a close the oft-discussed but never appropriated chapter in highway infrastructure planning at its regular meeting in Roanoke last week.
Lawmakers are hoping the end of that chapter could give way to renewed support for another two-pronged project: one that would offer upgrades to the existing U.S. 220 and that would effectively link Martinsville to the economic hub of Greensboro, North Carolina, through the construction of 8 miles of new road.
State Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, said that project, known colloquially as the Southern Connector, would be much more reasonable in terms of cost: It would take about $745 million to complete, compared to billions of dollars for Virginia’s portion of I-73.
“It’s hard under the SMART scale that Virginia operates under for us to get that kind of funding for I-73,” Stanley said in a phone call Monday.
The SMART scale is a formula used by the Virginia Department of Transportation and lawmakers to determine which critical infrastructure projects can be addressed with limited tax dollars.
Trip Pollard, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said that he also supports the transportation board’s decision to put an end to Virginia’s involvement in the I-73 project and that he supports efforts to upgrade existing parts of U.S. 220.
However, while Pollard and the Southern Environmental Law Center support one aspect of the two-pronged Southern Connector project, they have raised concerns regarding the social and environmental impact of building the new 8-mile stretch of road needed to connect Martinsville to the North Carolina border.
30 years of discussion, zero dollars allocated
Discussion for the I-73 project began about three decades ago. It would have provided upgrades to existing infrastructure, or built new roads altogether, to connect Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.
The cost to update existing roads and build new ones to create I-73 has fallen to each state. Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio had made progress on their portions of the project, while Virginia’s portion languished without allocation of funds. It would have provided upgrades to roads that connected Roanoke to the North Carolina border.
Though the project has been scrapped, Stanley argued, if Virginia’s Department of Transportation were to complete the Southern Connector project, it could become I-73 in the future.
“If we start out by reasonably saying we need the Southern Connector to connect Southside Virginia and the [U.S.] 58 bypass to three deep-water ports in North Carolina, and South Carolina and Georgia, and the cost is not prohibitive, I think that’s the way to go,” Stanley said. “I see us being more realistic now, where I-73 is cost prohibitive.”
More support for U.S. 220, but environmental questions remain
Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick County, also threw his support behind the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s decision to rescind I-73 and welcomed the Southern Connector project as a viable alternative.
“I have been a massive proponent of construction projects to complete the final section of Highway 58 and connect Southwest and Southside to the coast,” he said in a statement on Monday. “All options need to be explored to ensure that our region has the resources necessary to bring opportunity and investments into our communities.”
The Southern Environmental Law Center, however, issued a stark rebuke against the construction of the new road needed to complete the Southern Connector project, after the Virginia Department of Transportation issued its report in July 2021 on the environmental impact for that portion of the project.
In a November 2021 letter to the Virginia Department of Transportation, Pollard and the Southern Environmental Law Center wrote that building the 8-mile stretch of road through undeveloped land south of Martinsville would “destroy hundreds of acres of forest and farmland, cross numerous streams and wetlands, and relocate many homes, along with potentially significant indirect effects from induced development spurred by the project.”
It could also increase traffic and emissions from vehicles in the area, Pollard wrote.
A study to determine the cost and environmental impact of operational improvements and upgrades to U.S. 220 is due to the General Assembly later this year. Both Williams and Stanley said they “absolutely” support the allocation of state funds to complete the Southern Connector project.
“I put the budget amendment in every year to pay for that, and it’s not made it in the budget yet. So our localities have to think creatively, how we get this built,” Stanley said. “It’s going to take, I think, a combination of state money, maybe some federal money, and some local money.”
