Fancy Gap

Fancy Gap is the gap I-77 uses to top the Blue Ridge in Carroll County, Virginia, just north of the North Carolina line. The interstate climbs the east face of the ridge here. Northbound, it is about a six-mile uphill pull gaining over 1,500 feet, with a third truck-climbing lane that runs the full upgrade for slow rigs (roadstothefuture.com). The grade is not over 4.5 percent, so it is a long haul rather than a wall. The road connects the North Carolina Piedmont and the Mount Airy area to Hillsville and Wytheville, and on up the I-77 corridor toward West Virginia (Wikipedia, Interstate 77 in Virginia).

Southbound is the side that bites. Coming off the top toward North Carolina, you face the same six-mile drop, and that is where brakes can fade. There are three runaway-truck escape ramps on that downgrade (roadstothefuture.com). Manage your speed and your brakes before you crest, not halfway down.

The headline hazard at Fancy Gap is not the grade. It is fog. This stretch of I-77 is one of Virginia's worst fog-crash corridors, with a string of multi-vehicle pileups going back to the 1990s. High wind is the second problem: gusts strong enough to flip tractor-trailers show up on this mountain, and VDOT has told high-profile and lighter commercial rigs to find another way during wind events. Check 511Virginia before you commit to this climb (511.vdot.virginia.gov).

• Climb is about six miles, gaining over 1,500 feet, at a grade not over 4.5 percent (roadstothefuture.com)
• Summit elevation is over 3,100 feet at the highway high point (roadstothefuture.com)
• A third northbound truck-climbing lane runs the full six-mile upgrade (roadstothefuture.com)
• Three runaway-truck escape ramps sit on the southbound downgrade toward North Carolina (roadstothefuture.com)
• At least six multi-vehicle pileups since 1997 on this fog-prone stretch (roanoke.com, citing Virginia State Police)
• Wind gusts up to about 70 mph have overturned four tractor-trailers in one episode (Henry County Enterprise; WFXR/WDBJ)
• VDOT runs a variable speed limit between mile markers 0 and 15 that drops speeds when visibility falls to 650 feet or less (wsls.com)

Virginia has no chain-control season at Fancy Gap, because Virginia has no mandatory chain-control program at all. Under the Code of Virginia, section 46.2-1044, tire chains are permitted, not required, and only when needed for safety in snow, ice, or other slick conditions. The statute sets no commercial chain-up mandate and does not require you to carry chains. There is no scheduled seasonal or winter closure of I-77 here. The road closes only for incidents (crashes, pileups, overturned trucks) or severe weather (dense fog, high wind), and it reopens once the road is clear. After the March 31, 2013 pileup, for example, the interstate was shut for several hours and reopened the next day (journalnow.com). No VDOT-designated chain-up station or brake-check pullout specific to Fancy Gap could be verified, so do not count on a signed chain-up area here.

The section of I-77 from North Carolina up to the interchange a couple miles north of Fancy Gap opened in 1977 (roadstothefuture.com). The fog trouble showed up early and kept coming. In February 1997 a chain-reaction crash on the foggy mountain wrecked roughly 65 to 70 vehicles and injured at least 11, called at the time Virginia's worst chain-reaction crash since April 1992 (Roanoke Times, Feb 1997). In November 2010 a 75-vehicle pileup in dense fog killed two, with VDOT reporting visibility of 250 to 500 feet (Roanoke.com). The worst came on March 31, 2013: Virginia State Police counted 95 vehicles wrecked in 17 separate crashes within about a one-mile span near the base of the mountain, starting around 1:15 p.m. in heavy fog, with three killed and about 25 injured. The NWS Blacksburg office documented it and put visibility near 30 feet (NWS Blacksburg, Spring 2013 newsletter).

Virginia studied the problem and then engineered against it. In 2002 the Virginia Transportation Research Council published report 03-CR2 on reducing fog-related crashes on the Afton and Fancy Gap sections of I-64 and I-77, and its panel recommended variable message signs, fog-penetrating cameras, highway advisory radio, and variable speed limits (VTRC report 03-CR2). In late 2016 VDOT activated that variable speed limit system on I-77 in Carroll County between mile markers 0 and 15. It uses traffic cameras, weather and visibility stations, and 76 signs, and the Salem operations center lowers limits across a 65 to 30 mph range when visibility drops to 650 feet or less. The build contract ran about $7.5 million (wsls.com). After deployment, a federal ITS evaluation and a VTRC study reported fog-related crashes fell by more than 50 percent during low-visibility conditions (its.dot.gov; SSTI).