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The Roanoke
Times
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/141141
Traveler’s head home after
holiday weekend
Monday, November 26, 2007
By Jay Conley
Holiday traffic was heavy and congested at
times along Interstate 81 on Sunday, but there were no serious accidents,
according to reports from the Virginia State Police and the Virginia Department
of Transportation.
Sunday is typically one of the busiest travel days of the year as people
return home after an extended Thanksgiving weekend.
A steady stream of cars and sport utility vehicles, many with full luggage
racks and several with Christmas trees tied to the roof, snaked along the
interstate, outnumbering the tractor-trailer traffic.
State police in Wytheville reported bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-81 and
Interstate 77 about 10 a.m.
By the afternoon, rest stops on I-81 south in Botetourt
County near Buchanan and I-81 north in
Ironto in Montgomery
County had received a
steady stream of travelers pausing for bathroom breaks and to stretch their
legs.
State police were also out in force patrolling the interstate Sunday,
stopping numerous motorists.
Those traffic stops and a variety of minor vehicle accidents caused traffic
backups on stretches of the I-81 corridor from Salem
to Augusta County, according to reports from VDOT.
"It's miserable," said Ken Sowell as he walked his dog, Buffy,
about 2:30 p.m. at the rest stop near Buchanan.
Sowell was traveling south on I-81 from Hagerstown,
Md., to Greenville,
S.C., and said he had suffered
through stop-and-go traffic for several miles. He was about halfway through the
10-hour trip when he pulled into the rest stop.
"A little bitty fender bender backs up traffic for 30 miles," he
said.
While Sowell was at the rest stop, an accident occurred nearby on I-81 north
at mile marker 160. VDOT spokeswoman Heidi Coy said there were no injuries
related to the accident but that it backed up traffic for about four miles.
Julie Boegmann and her family, traveling from Washington
to Johnson City, Tenn., pulled into the Buchanan rest stop
just after Sowell did.
"Crazy," she said. "For the last hour it's been backed up. We
just passed a wreck. And before that I don't know what was going on."
VDOT also reported congested stretches of I-81 near Lexington
and Staunton
but still cited no serious accidents.
"So far, so good," said Coy about 4 p.m. Sunday. "There's a
lot of cars out there, but nothing major."
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