New $1 billion, 213-mile interstate planned to connect Norfolk and Raleigh
(The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, VA – June 9, 2016)
The road, to be called Interstate 87…has the support of elected officials, business leaders and agencies in Virginia and North Carolina, including both highway departments, chambers of commerce and all four senators. “This is one of those things whose time has long since come,” said Joe Milazzo, executive director of the Regional Transportation Alliance, a business coalition in Raleigh.
The number 87 was selected largely because the southern end of the road is in Raleigh between I-85 and I-95, Milazzo said.
The number also is tied to four historic years, he said. The colony of Sir Walter Raleigh was lost on Roanoke Island in 1587. James Madison’s 1787 Virginia Plan helped established the nation’s form of government. North Carolina State University was founded in 1887. Norfolk’s tallest building, Dominion Tower, was built in 1987.
The highway opens a better route between two prosperous mid-Atlantic states, Milazzo said.
“We’re very excited about the potential,” he said.