Work to resume on Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel tonight

Really this is all Kaine's fault? Did this problem start with in the last several years? He may shoulder some of the blame but past Gov. and past and current Gen Assemblies have also failed to address the problem.

Really this is all Kaine's fault? Did this problem start with in the last several years? He may shoulder some of the blame but past Gov. and past and current Gen Ass. have also failed to address the problem.

The traffic here is nothing as compared to almost any other major city. I grew up outside Philadelphia, but the Navy brought me to Norfolk. When my time was up in the USN, I had two job offers. One was in Philly, the other in Hampton. The job in Philadelphia paid almost 50% more, but leaving my final job interview at rush hour it took me 2 hours to leave the city! I took the job in Hampton. For over 20 years I did the HRBT twice a day, and yes, sometimes it took me an extra 20 to 30 minutes - still a lot better than 2 hours.

As for the comment about Gov. Kaine - just remember that when push comes to shove, the General Assembly is the center of political power in Virginia. The Governor is just the one that gets blamed for everything they do - or don't do.

This may be slightly off topic, but does anyone know the relative costs of building a bridge vs. a tunnel? For some reason it seems that we are stuck with the paradigm of "what if someone wants to bomb all the bridges and the navy can't get out of port?" Is that the only reason we still build bridge-tunnels instead of just bridges? Can't the bridges be built high enough for ships to pass under? Are we stuck with the memory of Pearl Harbor, which happened nearly 68 years ago?
Just curious.

$Billions of stimulus $dollar$ going everywhere, but not a penny going to expand/improve the HRBT. It's really the only solution to this problem, not some 3rd or 4th crossing; won't work! There are 150,000 daily commuters from Peninsula/Tidewater, back/forth each day. The proximity of the Naval Bases, Langley AFB, NASA, NN Shipyard, etc, make the HRBT the only viable route for us, hence we take it! Then you ask: "Why don't you carpool?" It's because the type of work we do requires POVs to visit various places during the work-day. Fools run transportation planning in HR, Obama's money is not well spent - saw on News where a small town was receiving $50 million for a homeless project. Only problem ... they DON'T have a homeless problem! The Mayor was confused on what to do with the money! GO OBAMA!

I lived in New York City for a while -- and Hampton Roads traffic is a walk in the park compared to that. Even still, VDOT needs to do better. To let the HRBT flood in the manner that it did -- is just unacceptable.

Yes, the backups can be frustrating. However, I moved to Virginia Beach a little more than a year ago from Atlanta and let me tell you, even with the onset of the summer traffic, it's not that bad. I lived 5 miles from my place of employment and had to leave my house 2 hours, yes I said 2 hours, before I had to be there in order to arrive just in time to start work. FIVE MILES IN TWO HOURS!!! And worse, sometimes it would take me more than that to get home at night. Come on folks, if you don't like the commute, you can do one of three things: find another job closer to home so you don't have to make the commute, leave home/work a bit earlier or later, or count your blessings you have a job and listen to a book on tape or your favorite CD and relax.

This is all Gov. Tim Kaine's fault. He scores a big zero in fulfilling his campaign promises. As a matter of fact, his administration scores a big zero. He has done nothing for Virginia. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

I understand what you're saying, Bill. In cases of hurricane evacuation routes, we may be in for difficult circumstances. That is the price we pay for living around so much water.

However, if you think traffic is bad down here, try living in the D.C. area. I've been living down here for 10 years now and the traffic here--even during the busy summer season--has nothing on traffic in the D.C. Metro area. Anyone else from that area can you tell you the same thing. It is possible for me to spend 45 minutes or so to drive 20 miles having to go through a tunnel during rush hour. In the D.C. area, going that same distance, it may take an hour-and-a-half to two hours to go the same distance during rush hour, sometimes even longer.

Count your blessings.

It is so frustrating to hear of these traffic backups on I-64. Like many other people, especially here on the Southside, I plan my tunnel crossings with great timing. A weekend dinner with friends on the Peninsula, never. A trip to Trader Joe's in the morning... not gonna happen. While it appears that I will just have to resolve myself to the fact that this probably won't change in my lifetime, I still get that edgy feeling during hurricane season that we will come to regret the shortsightedness of the local and state governments. I can only envision the chaos. Imagine trying to navigate HRBT with the onset of a hurricane and being the first car stopped from crossing because VDOT decides to close the tunnel for fear of flooding. You couldn't even turn around with the line of cars behind you. Riding out a category 4 while waiting in a line of traffic. God help us!