HR Bridge Tunnel Nightmare

Living in Virginia Beach and working in Hampton has never been easy, but today the commute was a real nightmare. In a classic scenario out of the VDOT playbook the HRBT was shut down about 6:30 am--just about the time I rolled on the highway at the Lynnhaven entrance ramp.  I saw the cryptic sign like everyone else..."construction tunnel blocked" and did my usual calculation.....an extra 20 minutes to the Monitor Merrimac or chance the HRBT and hope whatever "Road construction" meant would be over before I hit Ocean View.  Something told me to head to Portsmouth and up I 664. So that's what I did and about an hour later I rolled into Hampton after suffering through the beginnings of a massive traffic jam. At the office I checked out the news.... and swapped stories with the 3 of us who had left early enough to actually stay ahead of the swelling gridlock. It took hours for  the others to come in and everyone had his own tale of woe.

Now after many years of the HRBT commute I could tell you a few stories of my commute that would curl your hair....a crane toppling over, an axle breaking, accidents, crossing during a hurricane, and so on but today was a particular indignity. Why? Because it highlighted what those of us who commute know. The people in VDOT from the tow truck operators to the lightbulb changing crew to the muckety mucks who make the big decisions are incompetent. It is time to clean house and put in a new slate. Response time for accidents is slow, response to crisis is inadequate, decisions are made that are not from the modern world. People were driving through the water as late as 6:15 today, why?? The storm passed through in the late evening....

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