The trucking industry breathed a sigh of relief as it appears a plan to widen I-81 in Virginia by adding mandatory truck toll lanes has been put on hold.

Last week, the Virginia Department of Transportation sent the unsolicited proposal back to the Star Solutions consortium of construction companies, saying it will seek bids for I-81 construction in a couple of months.
“We’re going to do our homework, and by Oct. 1, we’ll paint a broad picture of what we think the solutions are for Interstate 81,” VDOT Commissioner Philip Shucet told The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The I-81 proposal was one of five unsolicited proposals to do road work around the state under the terms of the 1995 Public-Private Transportation Act.
The American Trucking Associations and the Virginia Trucking Association praised the move. “We applaud Commissioner Shucet’s decision to consider other options to improve I-81 beyond those offered by the single proposal that was previously submitted,” said ATA President and CEO William J. Canary. “As offered it discriminated against truck drivers and would have been detrimental to highway safety and seriously impacted the region’s economic competitiveness.”
However, the return of the proposals doesn’t mean the truck-toll plan is dead. Shucet told the paper that the return of the proposals was not a reflection on the merits of the plans. In fact, he assured Star Solutions that the agency is still willing to consider proposals that include tolls and dedicated truck lanes. He said the department wants to take a more proactive approach by soliciting proposals instead of just reacting to them.
The agency is also rewriting the guidelines for private proposals, which should help bring an end to the intense lobbying the companies have been doing and require companies to assume more of a financial risk.
Star Solutions said it would resubmit its I-81 proposal after the VDOT issues its solicitation for proposals.