It's part of the plan to make your drive in Interstate 81 easier. Now studies are beginning to determine how rail can ease truck traffic.

A previous Virginia Department of Transportation study counted 4.4 million trucks traveling through the Valley each year.

The state has concluded that investing about $2.7 billion in railroads could remove up to 720,000 of those trucks.

The new study will look at the cost of upgrading the railroad tracks running near the highway to handle more trains.