Norfolk, Va. - Drivers heading into Naval Station Norfolk are enduring a final maddening mess of traffic as construction crews finish a project 20 years in the planning and five years in the building.
Over the next several weeks, a series of lane shifts and lane closures will twist traffic either under or around the new railroad underpass on Hampton Boulevard near the Tour and Information building. In a month, all underpass lanes are supposed to be open, and the part of Hampton Boulevard that crosses the tracks will be closed for good.
The $105 million project was supposed to wrap up in 2012, but disagreements between VDOT and the railroad company brought the construction to a standstill.
When all lanes are open, traffic to and from the world's largest Navy base will zip without delay under trains carrying cargo from one of the East Coast's largest ports.
Drivers like Tim Stewart can't wait.
"We're going to get through here a lot quicker than we are now," he said.
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