Traffic nightmare before Wytheville, Va (Richmond, Roanoke: home, construction, safe)

[jammer49]

Hi..We recently came back from vacationing in Oak Island Nc. and the trip back to western Pennsylvania was rather mundane until we hit a stretch of road which I cant remember the route number...The traffic crawled for approximately 12 miles..At the end of the route, you had a choice of exiting (single lane) to the right or using a ramp to enter I 77 toward Wytheville (again single lane)..Terrible traffic jam with no wrecks or other obvious problems. Can anybody tell me what the route number is and how to avoid it next time? We wasted about an hour with the stop and go traffic and my wife yelled at me for getting upset. She is a wonderful wife and I love her dearly but at 5'3" and 375 lbs if pure woman, you dont want to get her upset ! ;-)

[Nebat]

Originally Posted by jammer49

Hi..We recently came back from vacationing in Oak Island Nc. and the trip back to western Pennsylvania was rather mundane until we hit a stretch of road which I cant remember the route number...The traffic crawled for approximately 12 miles..At the end of the route, you had a choice of exiting (single lane) to the right or using a ramp to enter I 77 toward Wytheville (again single lane)..Terrible traffic jam with no wrecks or other obvious problems. Can anybody tell me what the route number is and how to avoid it next time? We wasted about an hour with the stop and go traffic and my wife yelled at me for getting upset. She is a wonderful wife and I love her dearly but at 5'3" and 375 lbs if pure woman, you dont want to get her upset ! ;-)

I have no idea. Why were you so far west? Mapquest has a route up i95 to DC then heading towards western PA. Even if you wanted to avoid DC traffic, you could still go to Richmond and head west on i64 to i81 to continue to PA. However, around Wytheville, there are endless single lane roads. It could have been US rts, 11, 21, 221, 58. These are all at least two lanes, one direction each. Some will be 4 lanes though not sure. The traffic you described sounds like i81, but the description of the road doesn't, so i don't know.

[jammer49]

Hello..Yes I know about taking 95 north and getting off at Fredericksburg and continuing through Winchester etc etc. We just wanted to try a different route because I cant stand driving on 95 more than 5 miles. Pain in the butt and you cant relax at all. Thanks for your input. If you can think of yet another way, please let me know. The trip up until we hit that traffic was great. Still made it home in 11 hours which is just about as long as it would have taken going 95. Without the traffic problems, I think we could have made it in less than 10 1/2 hours...

[whynot?]

I was guessing that you were on I-81 driving north on the recent holiday weekend. The I-77 exchanges (also north and south) are a mile or two apart. On almost any weekend there is a slight slow-down as people change lanes, etc., to move between interstates.

That said, on holiday weekends, the slow-down is HUGE. There's almost no way around it, either, as the local roads quickly fill up with both people who know where they're going and people who are hoping for a better way.

Were you on I-81 to start out? If so, it's completely possible you just got caught up in the 81/77 mess. (There's often another farther north -- near Lexington, Va -- on 81, where I-64 west peels off on a left-lane exit.) I-81 is a favorite long-run N/S corridor for truckers and others who wish to avoid I-95.

[Ardent91]

I know your pain. I have traveled to South Carolina for years now using
I-77 going through Wytheville. The roads you speak of are the I-77 / I-81 interchange just south of Wytheville. Coming from the South, the lanes of traffic bottleneck into one lane going to 77 north and 81. On Saturdays, it backs up horribly because of vacationers like me.

I have sent a few emails to the D.O.T. commish asking why they continue to let this happen. There is plenty of room to add a few more lanes to ease the traffic flow. I have still yet to hear from anyone.

I would think for safety reasons, they would try to ease the traffic burden. May take is that they are making serious money off of motorists because there is a huge travel center just past the interchange and most people probably stop to take a break after sitting in traffic for an hour.

There is an exit before the interchange called Poplar Camp. It connects with U.S. 52 which bypasses all that mess. I have never taken the road, but I know it is a two lane road. Not sure how safe it is to travel.

Until the next time, I will probably send out of few more emails to the commish to pester the crap out of him.

[Beldar]

The issue is that a lot of traffic has found it a better route from North to South (and visa versa) than 95. So if you are traveling a long stretch like a trucker from NY to FL you may take that route instead of 95. Big article on this in the Roanoke Newspaper online. That is why it has become so crowded. If they fixed 95, less traffic would be on 81.

[Dbl-r]

sounds like you were on 77 south when you reached a point where it gives you 1 lane towards Bristol or 1 lane to wytheville where it ties into 81 north and south. They had construction there where they were repaving 77 and it did totally mess up the traffic flow...As a rule I travel that road often and that usually is no problem....just an FYI

[Rtom45]

We got caught in that traffic a couple weekends ago coming back from Topsail, NC. Sat in traffic east of Raleigh for 1 hour because of construction. Traffic at I77 ad I80 for an hour because of the single lanes. Traffic further north before you go thru the tunnels for an hour. Our 13 hour trip back to Erie became 16+ hours. Any semblance of peace and calm I had gained while vacationing was gone by the time we got home.

[BeverlyP]

I am in Bedford and want to move to another HUD senior apt heard there is one being built in Christainsburg and Wytheville. I guess I can call the city too.

Originally Posted by Dbl-r

sounds like you were on 77 south when you reached a point where it gives you 1 lane towards Bristol or 1 lane to wytheville where it ties into 81 north and south. They had construction there where they were repaving 77 and it did totally mess up the traffic flow...As a rule I travel that road often and that usually is no problem....just an FYI

[Hockeyman]

It has been this way for as many years as we have been going to the Carolina's for vacation. I have been looking for a different way and am going to try it on my way back in two weeks. We will be coming back from Myrtle Beach to Cleveland. After taking US 52 up to the I74 splitoff, I am going to try and take US52 all the way to I77. Mapquest shows only an additional 20 minutes. Even if it is an additonal hour, it beats that I77 crawl. I will repost when I get back.