After another round of blasting on I-81 in Montgomery County, VDOT says end of detours in sight

Stop and go traffic, detours and a lot of inconvenience.

Many of you thought the worst of Interstate 81 blasting detours in Montgomery County was over, but on Wednesday traffic tie-ups greeted many of you.

While these blasting detours have been a bother to some, VDOT says there is truly an end in sight.

"We used to be able to take right off, come right back. Now, it's a little more of a headache," said station manager Chris Hodge.


Rish Equipment Company has a front row seat to the action.

The heavy machinery business has sat off of Exit 132 for 35 years.

The last couple of months have involved long lines of traffic, construction workers, and detours.

"It's both good and bad, but it is a headache for our customers and our deliveries, sometimes the traffic does get really bad backed up," Hodge said .

The detours are part of VDOT's plan to widen and improve southbound I-81 from mile marker 120 to 125.

Many of you thought detours on Interstate 81 were over, well, so did VDOT. But, after last week's blasting, it had to tweak its plan.

There was an outcrop of rock that we had concerns about sliding during this next blast, so instead of doing a slow roll, which is what we had been doing over the last few weeks, opted to put a detour in place to try and inconvenience people less, VDOT spokesperson Jason Bond said.

VDOT says blasting is not an exact science, so slopes that haven't been disrupted in nearly 40 years can be unpredictable.

So does VDOT think this is the last of the detours?

"We do, unless something unforeseen happens, we do expect this to be the final detour," Bond said.

While some drivers might be doubtful at this point, others are trying to remain optimistic.

"I think this is going to be a temporary thing -a day here, a day there, so it's almost over," Hodge said.

There's still work to be done.

While VDOT hopes this is the last of a daytime blasting detour, there are others that will be taking place later this summer.

Those detours will be at night as crews work to replace bridge beams.