Speeding on I-81
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
You might think that with gas being up 93 cents a gallon from a year ago to $3.48 in the Roanoke Valley, motorists would have slowed down to conserve fuel, especially for long-haul trips.
Not so. The average speed of traffic is about the same on Interstate 81 between Christiansburg and Buchanan as it was a year ago — a hair more than 65 mph, according to northbound pavement sensors maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
But speedsters — those going more than 10 mph over the limit — make up approximately 15 percent of the motoring public using this Western Virginia stretch of I-81 known for hills and valleys.
