The Virginia Department of Transportation has awarded the team from Triton Construction Inc. and Rinker Design Associates LLC the latest contract in its ongoing $4 billion program to improve safety and capacity along the state’s 325-mile Interstate 81 corridor. Set to begin construction in the spring of 2027, the $237.75 million project calls for adding one 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 stretch of I-81 near the town of Ironto. The second 3-mile segment is currently under procurement, according to VDOT, with the contract award expected by the end of the year and construction to begin in early 2028. The agency expects to begin procurement on the remaining 2.8-mile segment this fall, with all work on the section expected to be completed by 2035. barrier walls and the construction of sound walls in some locations.
Interstate 81, a key north-south backbone of the East Coast freight network through the eastern Appalachian Mountains, has the highest per capita heavy truck volume in Virginia, with approximately 1.4 billion truck vehicle miles traveled annually, according to VDOT. With growing truck traffic contributing to increased congestion and crash incidents that have resulted in lengthy highway closures, the agency launched a capital improvement program (CIP) in 2018 that consists of operational improvements and 65 construction projects, including acceleration/deceleration lane extensions, new truck ramps and ramps, and curve improvements.
One of CIP’s largest projects currently underway is a six-year, $479 million improvement of a 7-mile section in Roanoke and Botetourt counties by Branch Civil. The widening project, scheduled for completion in the summer of 2031, also includes ramp improvements at three interchanges, replacement of four pairs of bridges and the improvement of vertical clearance under another overpass.
This spring, Triton Construction will begin a six-year, $219 million widening of a six-mile segment of I-81 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The project also includes the replacement of nine bridges, a new concrete barrier separating northbound and southbound traffic, stormwater improvements and the replacement of a signalized freeway crossing with a roundabout.
VDOT has begun planning separate widenings and bridge replacements in the Winchester-Frederick County area. The agency plans to award a design-build contract of about $240 million in early 2027 for a four-mile widening project north of Winchester that also includes rebuilding an existing interchange. A nearly five-mile widening project south of the city is planned for later in the decade, and will likely use design-bid-build, VDOT says.
With the original CIP projects completed or in development, VDOT has identified another 22 future improvement projects to be scheduled over a 10-year period beginning in 2035 as funding becomes available.
