VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Jack Rogers has lived off Shore Drive his entire life, and now works at Sugar Shack Donuts.
He has to take the Lesner Bridge daily to commute back and forth, and knows just how bad traffic can be.
“A lot of traffic sometimes, they work on the bridge and they don’t really let you know so you can be late to stuff,” said Rogers.
Construction on the new Lesner Bridge started in June of 2014.
In November of 2016, travel lanes started shifting as the new bridge was built.
Business owners located right near the bridge say they felt the construction affected them in the beginning but say as people learned their way around the detours, business started going back to normal.
They’re still anxiously waiting for the bridge to be completed
“The lanes are really narrow and we’ve all been waiting for a while,” Rogers said.
The city says there has been a year delay on the completion of the project.
Right now, cars are only driving on the westbound side of the bridge as construction finishes in the eastbound lanes. By the end of August, the city says they hope to have cars also back driving on the east bound side.
They say completion of the entire bridge, including a multi-use path, will be finished by November of this year.
“There’s going to be a big bike lane so people can safely ride their bikes over the bridge,” Rogers said.
The city has had a camera up documenting the whole building process, you can follow the bridge’s progression here.
