Hard work making road round Virginia (7)
I believe the answer is:
travail
'hard work' is the definition.
('travail' can be a synonym of 'hard work')
'road round virginia' is the wordplay.
'road' becomes 'trail' (trail is a kind of road**).
'round' indicates putting letters inside.
'virginia' becomes 'va' (US state abbreviation).
'trail' going around 'va' is 'TRAVAIL'.
'making' is the link.
(Other definitions for travail that I've seen before include "Old word for pangs of childbirth" , "Use of physical or mental energy; excessive labour..." , "Painful or laborious effort, like childbirth" , "Hard work" , "painful exercise" .)