(The following editorial appeared on the TriCities.com website on June 12.)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — On the surface, the Norfolk Southern Corp. proposal to create a vastly improved rail corridor from Louisiana to New Jersey seems like a wonderful idea.
What’s not to like about a plan with the potential to divert as many as a million tractor-trailers from Interstate 81 each year? Certainly, the plan is more palatable than the odious, and now abandoned, proposal to expand the interstate to eight lanes from Bristol to Winchester.
However, there are questions that must be answered before state governments (including those in Virginia and Tennessee) and the federal government commit substantial resources to this public-private partnership. Norfolk Southern estimates the project will cost more than $2 billion, and is expected to seek public funding for two-thirds of that amount – as it has for the Heartland Corridor from Norfolk to the Midwest. For such an investment to make sense, the railroad must offer proof that the project will take the pressure off Interstate 81.
So far, the details of the Crescent Corridor project, as it’s called, are a bit hazy. The high-speed rail corridor is said to roughly follow the path of I-81 along with parts of four other interstates. A specific route hasn’t been announced; nor have detailed lists of improvements been shared with the public.
Similarly, the estimates of the number of trucks removed from the highway aren’t quite concrete. Norfolk Southern officials believe there are as many as 1 million trucks a year that could be diverted from road to rail if the improvements are made. That figure appears to represent truck diversion for the length of the corridor rather than in Virginia alone, where state estimates have been much lower in years past.
How many trucks will be taken off Virginia’s roads as a result of the improvements? This is the key question, particularly since the state has already committed $40 million in “seed money” to the project.
Truck traffic – much of it traveling through the state to points north – is the cause of most of the hand wringing about the condition of Interstate 81 in Virginia. State studies indicate the interstate is carrying almost 5 million trucks a year. Worse from a safety perspective, trucks now account for 40 percent of the traffic on the highway, which was designed to carry about 15 percent truck traffic.
Both the number of trucks and the percentage of trucks on the road will only increase – a result of an economy that increasingly depends on just-in-time deliveries to keep humming along. As the truck numbers climb, so will the frustration and fear that regular motorists feel as they jockey for position among the big rigs.
Virginia is preparing to make targeted improvements to I-81. These include truck-climbing lanes and extra lanes in some areas. The project is much smaller than the massive building project planned a few years ago. Combining these improvements with the rail project might be the best solution for the state, but more information is needed.
Norfolk Southern must make the case for public investment by getting specific. That these discussions must take place in public is equally obvious.
For Norfolk Southern, this is a business decision, driven by profits. For the states, the goal is different. Virginia and its counterparts along the corridor must invest their money in the project or projects that will bring the most bang for the buck: reducing congestion, decreasing the number and percentage of trucks on the interstate, reducing environmentally damaging emissions and improving safety for motorists.
The Crescent Corridor is promising, but the states must demand more information before making an investment decision.