SHARING THE ROAD: Dense truck traffic, dangerous landscape raise I-81 safety concerns

8/14/2019 SHARING THE ROAD: Dense truck traffic, dangerous landscape raise I-81 safety concerns

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Pierce, a passenger in the car, escaped from the accident virtually unscathed. He would be the only one to make it back

to Washington and Lee University.

It hit us like a freight train, said Pierce, who after the crash looked over to find Cullum hunched beside him. At age 19, as he

sat in the back of an ambulance on Interstate 81 near Lexington, Pierce had to call his parents and tell them their son, his

brother, was gone.

He was my best friend. I admired him, said Pierce, now 25. We were very close.

Cullum Owings became another casualty on the list of 5,000 Americans who die every year in tractor-trailer-related crashes.

Thats the equivalent of two airline crashes a month with everyone on board dying, said Steve Owings, Pierce and

Cullums father.

The trucker who caused the Owings' crash was indicted on a charge of reckless driving, a criminal misdemeanor. He spent a

month in jail, paid a $1500 fine and gave up his license for a year.

The steep grades and rocky bottoms of the truck-dense I-81 make it the deadliest of Virgninas five interstates, said Mike

Fontaine, senior research scientist at the Virginia Transportation Research Council.

Last year, 22 of the almost 3,000 national fatal crashes involving big trucks happened on the Virginia corridor of I-81. Of the

65 fatal crashes on the corridor in the years 2005-2007, 25 of them involved at least one truck. That s almost 40 percent of the

fatal crashes during those three years.

On Interstate 95, which runs north-south through busy eastern Virginia, only 34 percent of fatal crashes involve at least one

truck. And a mere 11 percent of Interstate 64s fatal crashes involve a tractor trailer.

Fontaine, who provided those crash statistics, said that I-81 has the highest percentage of truck traffic in the Commonwealth.

Thats a growing problem for an aging, four-lane interstate.

I-81 was built to accommodate 15 percent truck traffic during its 1960s heyday. Today, tractor-trailers are up to 40 percent

of traffic. And passenger car congestion is growing fast, too, Fontaine said.

Traffic volume on most segments has more than tripled since 1975, according to Federal Highway Administration statistics.

The steady traffic volume increase is due largely to the long-term economic expansion in industries and localities along the corridor.

And the deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980, which made it easier for new truck companies to get started and truckers

to get licensed, quadrupled the number of trucks on the road.

The multiplying numbers of cars and trucks traveling I-81 will inevitably increase the frequency and severity of crashes,

said Fontaine.

Congestion and crashes tend to be highly correlated with one another, he said.

Worse, crashes that do occur on the mountainous interstate are notorious for their severity.

Since Cullum Owings death the Virginia Department of Transportation has spent $62.5 million in Rockbridge County alone

on widening bridges and adding truck lanes.

But long-term solutions will be costly estimates range up to $13 billion and could take more than a decade. The federal six-

year spending plan for interstate highways is up for renewal this year, but big-ticket items such as adding more lanes to I-81

or providing the money necessary to move more freight to the railroad are not likely to be a part of the bill in a down economy.

And the almost $700 million in stimulus money VDOT has received can be used only for shovel-ready projects projects that

do not need extensive planning and can be implemented immediately.

Research scientist Mike Fontaine talks about the large

percentage of trucks on Interstate 81.

Sign up for traffic alerts in Rockbridge County, Lexington

and Buena Vista

Road Safe America, an advocacy group founded by the

father of crash victim Cullum Owings

The Fed eral Highway Adminstration's Web site, offeringroad statistics and other information

Virginia Transportation Research Council

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Worse, budget-cutting measures planned in Virginia could mean less overnight parking for weary truckers looking to get off

the road for some sleep.

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2009 by Bratu, Coupe, Statton and Steele

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The safety hazards: congestion, climate, conditions

I-81s status as Virginias most dangerous interstate raises the stakes for students who attend the 29 universities

along its 325-mile corridor in the state.

In 2002, Cullum Owings, then a senior at W&L, was one of those student drivers. Steve Owings said he and his

wife Susan had talked with their sons before they left about the dangers of sitting still on the Interstate.

We talked about it that morning: When you come to stopped traffic, which you undoubtedly will, try to leave

enough space in front of your car so that you can maneuver and look in the rear view mirror, Owings recalled.

And Pierce said thats exactly what Cullum tried to do when he noticed the 18 wheelers headlights barreling

toward them. But everything happened too fast. Cullum had only managed to turn the 1992 Lexus just enough for

the drivers side to take the brunt of the impact.

I couldnt even get him out," Pierce said. "Ambulance was there within 10 to 15 minutes; they couldnt get him

out either. They tried to back up the truck. And I think he died in my arms.

Robert Foresman, Rockbridge Countys emergency management and hazardous materials coordinator for the past

Robert Foresman, emergency management coordinator for

Rockbridge County, talks about the most severe recent crashes

on I-81.

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seven years, can spin off a laundry list of I-81s trucking horror stories.

In 1999 there was a major crash on the Buffalo Creek Bridge that involved 17 vehicles. We had 35 patients with

four fatalities, he began. That was only a mile or so from the site of Cullum Owings' death.

That accident claimed the life of another student, freshman Jonathan Nabors.

As Rockbridge Countys emergency management coordinator, Foresman responds to any big rig accidents on the

Interstate between mile markers 173 and 205.

Four people were killed in this 1999 accident that happened around the I-81

Buffalo Creek Bridge. The pile-up involved eight t ractor-trailers and eight cars.

(Photo: THE NEWS-GAZETTE)

I think that the mountainous

terrain, the way the road is banked

and designed causes problems for

drivers, said Foresman.

Fontaine agrees. He said the high

density of truck traffic on the

interstates hilly terrain creates a

huge inconsistency in the speeds that

cars and trucks drive.In his research

Fontaine found that trucks

sometimes go as slow as 45 mph in

the left lane as they go up hills,

causing mile-long back-ups.

Trucks have a disproportionate

impact on the traffic flow along I-81,

particularly when you get into these

locations where youve got the hills

and valleys going up and down the

road, Fontaine said.

That speed inconsistency is a major factor in I-81 crashes, he said.

And those are safety hazards that threaten everyone on the road. Virginia Delegate for the 24th District Ben Cline

said many of his constituents worry about driving on I-81.

Environmental concerns or congestion concerns or safety concerns: Everybodys got some concern that relates

to 81, he said.

Jennifer Leech, a Rockbridge County resident who is her father's right-hand on the famiy's third-generation dairy

farm, said she is always nervous when she drives on I-81. She tries to avoid the cluttered lanes of the interstate if

she can, opting instead to take the parallel US Route 11.

Especially if Im driving a truck with like a livestock trailer or something, I just stay on 11, said Leech.

A 2006 graduate of Virginia Tech, she had to drive the 100-mile stretch of the Interstate between Lexington and

Blacksburg every weekend when she was still in school.

Playing bumper cars with big trucks and careless passenger car drivers every weekend scared Leech. One Sunday

morning, she said, she was run off the road into the median by a truck that was merging onto the interstate around



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Troutville, north of Roanoke.

I guess he didnt see me. I was in his blind spot, driving a little black car, she said.

Leech found some areas, such as the Buffalo Creek Bridge near the site of Cullum Owings death and the exits

surrounding Roanoke, were worse than others.

If you went around work hours, around Roanoke, it got really, really busy and dangerous, she said. You

definitely had to pay attention to what you were doing.

That sitting duck feeling is one Leech said she doesnt want to experience again. Now she always speeds up when

she is passing a truck on I-81.

Cline said there are many others just like Leech who refuse to drive on the corridor.

So many folks from this area are scared to get on 81 anymore, they dont even use it. They take (Route) 11

wherever they go, he said.

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Searching for safety: Short-term solutions?

In 2002, Steve Owings and his wife Susan made their way up the corridor only a few months after Cullum s death.

On their way to visit Pierce at W&L, they were shocked and sickened at the congestion and the speed with whichvehicles flew past them.

Owings knew something had to

change. In 2003, after the resolution

of the criminal case against the man

who hit his sons' car, Owings

founded Road Safe America, a

research and advocacy group

promoting safer interstate driving.

Since then, the Owings family has

worked tirelessly to spread their

message through speeches,collaboration with the American

Trucking Associations and the Road

Steve Owings describes Road Safe America partnerships.

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Pierce Owings, left, spent most o f his life following Cullum everywhere: tohigh school and then to college at Washington and Lee University, where he

joined the same fraternity as Cullum, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. (Photo: STEVE

OWINGS)

Safe America Web site.

The top, shared priority of Road

Safe America and the ATA is to

limit the speed that tractor-trailers

can drive by requiring the use of

speed governors. All trucks are

required to have the regulators, but

most trucking companies do not

require their drivers to program

them.

Owings said he thinks limiting a

trucks top speed to 65 mph is

essential to make I-81 and all

interstates safer.

An 80,000-pound vehicle traveling

just 60 mph has the force of the

average car going over 300 mph,

he said.

He said that Road Safe America and

the ATA have pursued mandatory

programming of speed governors through state departments of transportation for years. But their best hope might

lie with Congress. The Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act better known as the

highway bill is up for renewal in September. Thats the bill that is renewed every six years to authorize federal

funding of all transportation in the United States. Owings hopes that the Obama administration and the

Democratic majority in Congress will support the speed governor proposal.

But Fontaine said that speed governors might not be as safe as Owings and the ATA suggest. Fontaine cites speed

variance as a main crash cause on interstates like 81, and he thinks speed governors could create situations where

tractor trailers act as rolling road blocks.

I think you cant really say that there should be a global blanket of 65 mph on the limiters, said Fontaine.

Ideally, your safest mode of operation on the road is everybodys driving about the same speed.

Owings agrees that forcing trucks to drive at a slower speed in the right lane isn t a quick fix. Ideally, he said,

trucks and cars shouldnt even share the same space. But for now, hes lobbying for short-term solutions like the

speed governors and adding a sharing the road program to driver education courses. The program would teach

high school students how to drive around big trucks.

Del. Cline said part of his short-term safety solutions for I-81 includes those new driver education programs. But

he thinks the best way to improve safety on the Interstate is stricter enforcement. He is trying to get money set

aside in the General Assembly to put more troopers on patrol along I-81.

But it costs $100,000 to outfit one new trooper, Cline said.

VDOT is also working to put band-aids over some of I-81 s smaller safety wounds. Matt Shiley, a regional trafficengineer for VDOT, said that highway safety features like rumble strips, electronic message boards and the

Highway Safety Corridor running through the Roanoke area of I-81 all improve safety day to day. The safety

Research scientist Mike Fontaine talks about the effect ofdifferent speed limits for cars and trucks..



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corridor, where speed limits are lower, is sometimes criticized for increasing area congestion. But it has helped

bring the crash rate down, said Shiley.

Bridge and interstate redesign projects also help improve safety in the danger zones of I-81. In 2005, Buffalo

Creek Bridge was one such project, put on the to-do list after the Owings tragedy. The bridge was rebuilt with

wider shoulders, and a northbound truck climbing lane was added.

Visiting W&L for alumni weekends is always bittersweet, Pierce Owing said, partly because of the I-81 drive that

will always haunt him.

Is 81 a bad interstate? Absolutely, he said. In terms of the interstates I travel on, and you know I live in Atlanta

I travel on them every day its one of the worst.

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Searching for safety: The rest stop c ontroversy

For Clyde Huffman, a West Virginia trucker who has been hauling on I-81 for almost 40 years, one of the newest

highway hazards is finding a place to rest at night.

Since 2005, long-haul truckers have been required by federal law to rest 10 hours every day. That means they need

to find a place to park so they can sleep in the bunks their cabs are outfitted with.

Huffman said he likes the new regulations because they help to reduce fatigue, but they have created more

competition for parking spaces. Also, the number of trucks on the road has quadrupled since he started driving in

1976. Available truck parking hasnt kept up with the demand, said Huffman, who chose life behind the wheel to

avoid the West Virginia mines.

The biggest problem ... right now is parking for trucks, Huffman said. There is nowhere to park.

And unfortunately for Huffman, who tries to make it home every weekend to see his 17-month-old

granddaughter, the parking problem is about to get worse.

VDOT has decided to close 19 of 41 of its public safety rest areas in a balancing act to attempt to fix a $2.6 billion

budget shortfall. Eight of those rest areas set to close are on I-81.


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Jeff Caldwell, VDOT chief of communications, said that originally VDOT planned to shut down 25 of its rest

areas in order to give the department a large portion of the $15 million it is obligated to cut from its services

operation budget money VDOT uses for roadway maintenance such as mowing, replacing signs and staffing the

rest areas.

It has been one of the most controversial cuts weve been looking at, said Caldwell. In a press release, he said

VDOTs decision to continue to operate six of the rest areas originally slated to close was a compromise between

its plans and the concerns of truckers, localities and commuters along its interstates. Four of the 12 rest areas that

just barely missed the chopping block are on I-81.

Huffman said that good parking spaces are a necessity now more than ever since the federal regulations changed.

But in Virginia especially, Huffman said, parking spaces private truck stops and public rest areas simply arent

there. To further handicap a trucker s chances of finding a safe place to rest on I-81 is dangerous and just plain

crazy, said Huffman.

Steve Owings said hes on the side of the truckers.

There are nowhere near enough places already for them to rest, and the fact that Virginia is closing the existing

places is just a travesty.

We actually have the truck drivers situation foremost in our minds because frankly, the situation we've got

now is not only unsafe, its immoral, Owings said.

Caldwell argued that the Commonwealths rest areas serve as only 10 percent of available truck parking

throughout the state. The real problem, he said, lies in the private sector and lack of parking spaces there. And the

proposed closings which will most likely be passed by the Commonwealth Transportation Board in July are

just a small portion of the sacrifices that the bad economy has forced VDOT to make.

VDOT has held numerous public hearings in localities along I-81. Caldwell said those hearings helped the

department assess public opinion about the proposed cuts, including the closing of the rest areas. He received

enough feedback from the hearings to fill two file cabinets, he said, and VDOT has reviewed all of the comments

it has received.

"This resulted in some changes, which allow us to reach our financial targets while meeting our customers' most

critical needs," said VDOT Commissioner David Ekern in the same press release.

But even with the revised plan, there will be only six rest areas along the length of the corridor's 325 miles.

Caldwell said there isn't anywhere else for VDOT to cut funds.

We have already laid off 20 percent of our work force, said Caldwell. Short of that, we dont know where else

to get the money. Still, Caldwell said, he is trying to help find some respite for the truckers.

Huffman hasnt seen any respite yet. He says he doesnt even stop at rest areas along I-81 anymore because he

knows he will be fined because of the two-hour limit the state has put on parking. That means truckers like

Huffman often resort to considerably more risky parking spots, like Interstate exit ramps.

But you get fined for parking on those too, he said. State troopers wake truckers up all the time to tell them to

move on from the rest areas or exit ramps. But that means Huffman and his fellow truckers have to make a

dangerous choice: obey the state parking law, or the federal rest time?

Rockbridge Reporter Helen Coupe finds out how truckers feel about the closing

of rest areas along I-81.

I-81 Program Coordinator Fred Altizer talks about rest areas.


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And Virginia state police, Huffman said, are not sympathetic.

Youre told that you need to plan your route better, and to go on through their state, he said. You know, I

mean when theres no parking, there is no parking,

Darrell Lewis, a trucker who has spent his time on the road hauling gas and hazardous materials, said that he has

had many run-ins with state police while parking on I-81 exit ramps.

Ive been woken up... at two oclock in the morning, out on a ramp, not hurting anybody, Lewis said. [They

say] Youre breaking the law, you gotta go.Well, where do I go?I dont know but you cant stay here.

Sgt. Robert Carpentieri, public information officer for the State Police, Salem district, said that in his 20 years as a

state trooper he has never asked a trucker to leave a rest area, even if his two-hour hourglass has run out. But

when he comes across a truck parked on an exit ramp or along the side of I-81, his duty to enforce safety

overrides his compassion.

If theyre parked on the emergency shoulder and theres No Parking signs we ask them to leave because that

creates a traffic hazard, Carpentieri said.

Carpentieri acknowledged that even without the closing of the rest stops, there just isn t enough parking for the 40

percent truck traffic that makes up the corridor s total on an average day.

I would just say that there probably is not enough parking in truck stops or rest areas for the amount of traffic,

truck traffic we have coming through here,

he said.

But Bobby Berkstresser, owner of Lee-Hi, a private truck stop in Rockbridge County, said he thinks the need for

more parking is minimal. Lee-Hi, which has 300 parking spaces, and other private truck stops can handle the

parking demand, Berkstresser said.

Theres some nights you might

have to look [for parking.],"said

Berkstresser. "But the private sector

has always shown that, in fact, if the

business is out there, were more

than willing to increase the number

of parking spots that would beavailable.

Others have been clamoring for the

commercialization of the rest areas

VDOT plans to close as a potential

solution to I-81s parking

shortcomings.

Cline said that the privatization

proposal is one that hes heard

tossed around a lot. The problem is

that it breaks federal law. The law

was originally put in place to protectlocal business communities on and

around the interstate by forbidding

Sgt. Robert Carpentieri talks about the need for truck parking on

I-81.


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Teresa Fisk, general manager of private truck stop White's, th inks there isenough parking in the private sector for trucks traveling on I-81.

(HELEN COUPE/ The Rockbridge Report)

the private sector to invest in or

benefit from public exits. But Cline

said he still thinks that the

privatization of rest areas should be

studied.

Caldwell is on board with exploring commercialization options, too. He said that the Commonwealth

Transportation Board petitioned the federal government in March to try to get some dispensation from the law.

But for now, the closing of rest areas on the clogged corridor looms large, and truckers like Huffman and Lewis

wont be seeing any new parking perks. That puts truckers

and the other drivers with whom they share the road

in danger.

Youre going to find trucks all over the ramps, which is supposed to be illegal anyway, Lewis predicted. Its

going to be a problem.

Searching for safety: Distant decisions

Safety and road design problems facing I-81 won t be solved only by rumble strips and wider shoulders.

Suggestions for long-term improvements have run the gamut from a big-name consortiums failed proposal to

widen the interstate to a grassroots organizations clamoring for a rail solution.

But for now, VDOT can afford only the quick fix. Steve Owings said he and others with I-81 agendas hope the

highway bill in September will provide the dollars needed to establish longer-lasting solutions.

Weve got this once every six years legislative opportunity, said Owings.

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SHARING THE ROAD: Dense truck traffic, dangerous landscape raise I-81 safety concerns