A controversial plan that would widen I-81 in Virginia through the use of mandatory truck toll lanes has been signed into law.

Gov. Mark Warner signed the legislation Saturday. The public-private partnership will widen 325 miles of Interstate 81 from four lanes to eight, with two toll lanes each way restricted to trucks. Cars would not be charged tolls.
"Anyone who drives Interstate 81 knows the sooner this road is widened and car and truck traffic is separated, the safer all motorists will be," Warner said in a statement.
The stretch of I-81 from Winchester to Bristol is among the oldest in the interstate system and carries many times the traffic it was designed to.
The Virginia Trucking Assn. and the American Trucking Associations opposed the proposal. They said many trucks would use other state highways rather than pay a toll, and predicted safety problems as trucks crossed multiple lanes of traffic to enter and exit the toll lanes. (See " Trucking Groups Fight Virginia I-81 Plan," 2/21/2002.)