Despite the big talk, funding for Interstate 81 improvements is shelved until 2020

2019 was going to be the year to solve the problems of Interstate 81, that truck-clogged artery that carries an economic lifeblood through much of western Virginia. 

And now, suddenly, it isn't.

We were told in 2018 that 2019 was the year a solution would be crafted and real action would begin.

Legislators directed VDOT to study how to finally upgrade the road that is perpetually plagued with what they call "incident" delays.

Unlike I-95's rush hour clogs, I-81 backs up when trucks collide with other trucks or with unfortunate autos that get in their way as they traverse hills and curves though Virginia's most scenic terrain.

Scenic, but too often frustrating and sometimes deadly.

VDOT spent a year asking local residents up and down the corridor to play a bureaucratic version of pin the tail on the donkey, affixing color dots to maps, sharing their experiences during listening sessions, all working toward a foregone conclusion - that the state ever expects to have enough money to widen I-81 end-to-end, and that the best we could expect would be a patchwork of minor fixes to address major problems.

More:Interstate 81 funding may be a year away with substitute bill introduced by Del. Landes

VDOT was also tasked with developing financing options. Legislators said they wanted a heavy reliance on regional taxes and, to a lesser extent, a toll on trucks. At least through 2018, that stated goal placated the trucking lobby.

But when the plan came back, it was a tolling plan. The word "toll" appeared no fewer than 51 times in the first draft of a bill that was endorsed by both parties as well as the governor. It was called a grand compromise. Tolls for cars. Tolls for trucks. A few loopholes for local traffic. A flat-fee annual pass system for auto frequent fliers. And we were supposed to be off to the races.

Except we weren't.

After behind-the-scenes lobbying, presumably by trucking interests, threatened to leave some legislators as roadkill, a substitute bill was offered. It set up some of the framework of a future effort to rehab I-81, but sent the entire question of funding to a new "study" committee.

The word "toll" was entirely stricken from the bill.

Studying is the Virginia way. It kicks the can down the road and even gives legislators a year to listen - and collect campaign contributions - before making a final decision.

It's not always about money. Sometimes it's just about not wanting to make a hard decision. When legislators were allergic to consolidating two campuses of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, they studied it for nearly a generation.

"To study" is not necessarily an active verb in the General Assembly.

Don't get us wrong. Tolling wasn't a perfect answer. But it was an answer and we need one. Regional gas taxes Balkanize the state and are bad for what should be a unified transportation system. We believe the statewide gas tax should be adequately scaled to pay for all of Virginia's roads, dumping the need for any regional taxes to support roads. 

We were at least appreciative that the tolling proposal wasn't just a regional gas tax shouldering everyone within spitting distance of the interstate with its upgrade cost. Now, who knows what we'll get. If we're lucky, the final plan might resemble one plan offered this session by Sen. John Edwards from Roanoke, who proposed a statewide gas tax with a certain amount of revenue carved out for Interstate 81 improvements.  

But now, who knows what we'll get. And who knows when we'll get it. 

So we now have more public hearings in the offing, a report due in December that presumably will be more to the liking of the trucking industry, and another year of delay before anything of substance happens. The work is already more than a decade overdue, so what's another year, right? Unless you're the last person to die before we finally get around to fixing things. Or their family. Then it really matters that the General Assembly has again frittered away an opportunity to make life better and safer for Virginians.

Our View represents the opinion of our Editorial Board: David Fritz, executive editor; and William Ramsey, news director.