I-81 Corridor Freight Information System Concept of Operations

The GO-81 concept came about as a result of a concerted effort on the part of the I-81 Corridor Coalition to address freight safety concerns on the corridor. Past research and analysis efforts revealed that commercial vehicles comprised a large percentage of the vehicles traveling the corridor—reaching as high as 40 percent of total vehicle traffic in sections between Central Pennsylvania and West Central Virginia. This stretch of the corridor also experiences the highest levels of congestion and the greatest frequency of crashes. This document contains the vision, goals, objectives and guiding principles for a system.

The GO-81 vision is to become the national model for applied truck information systems that integrates existing I-81 corridor data on travel times, incidents, and weather and adds real-time information on truck parking. GO-81 will also define a business model that will guide other corridors on how to implement a similar public-private partnership and thus speed deployment of a national freight information system .... Read More

The Network 81 Study

In order to develop a transportation vision for a geographic area it is necessary to understand the current conditions and desired outcomes. Based on that understanding, it is possible to conceptualize the avenues through which a vision can be achieved by pursuing a particular course of action. Then the resulting plan requires defining a direction, allocating resources, and initiating an effort to pursue it.

This project, funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), with financial assistance from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), is intended to present a strategic perspective for that vision. The principal objective in the assignment was to define the geographic area of the I-81 Corridor. The other objectives of the study were to outline a concept for the direction of the Appalachian transportation systems within that corridor.... Read More

I-81 Multimodal Study

The six states through which I-81 traverses share a common interest and are working together to "share and coordinate operating and capital plans" and "coordinate freight, truck, and rail study planning" to improve the safety and performance of the I-81 Regional Commerce Corridor. Each state recognizes that efficient goods movement through the I-81 Regional Commerce Corridor (referred to hereafter as the I-81 corridor) is critically important to its own economic competitiveness as well as to that of the region and the nation. The highway and rail infrastructure of the I-81 corridor requires significant investment to maintain existing levels of service and safety. Substantial additional resources are required to increase capacity at key locations.

Understanding that the economic forces driving freight demand over the I-81 corridor transcend individual state boundaries, the I-81 partner states are formally cooperating to promote efficient goods movement through the corridor, improve the safety of the traveling public and encourage economic development ... Read More