Drivers say VDOT apology not enough

HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) - Some drivers told WAVY.com they were not satisfied with VDOT's apology for causing a traffic nightmare for many this weekend.

The Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel was the only way to get from the Peninsula to the Southside most of Saturday.

"It was bananas," said Hampton's Lashawn Smith. "I've never seen anything like that."

Drivers say the traffic was "unreal."

"I don't want to go through anything like that ever again," Chesapeake resident Sherman Wilson said. "I was watching my grandson play football in Hampton and going back to Chesapeake where I live."

Wilson was bumper to bumper for about three hours, but Smith was not as lucky.

"It was all day," Smith said. "We went from here to J. Clyde [Morris Boulevard]. It was backed up to Hampton Roads Center Parkway."

Virginia Department of Transportation officials announced Monday they have postponed the work scheduled for Sept. 21-23 that would have left the MMMBT as the only route south. Some drivers did not think the apology was enough.

"[It's not enough] for the people who had to sit in it," Smith said. "I don't think so. I heard people were talking about weddings and funerals that they couldn't make it to. It was just poor planning."

Wilson said the apology is accepted only if VDOT guarantees drivers are not placed in a similar situation again.

"On one condition," Wilson added. "If they make sure that this doesn't ever happen again."