Virginia Beach Police Department Shares Traffic Schedule for Great Neck Road Related to Tornado Recovery Efforts

The tornado recovery efforts in Virginia Beach are ongoing and complex, involving a great deal of heavy equipment to haul away debris and remove trees. In the interest of public safety and to assist in the efficiency of the recovery operations, the roadways in the affected neighborhood must remain open and accessible to residents and necessary personnel only.

To that end, for the duration of the clean-up initiative, impacted neighborhood roads are prioritized for residents of the area, emergency responders, and credentialed clean-up crews. To assist through-traffic, to the degree possible, one southbound lane and one northbound lane will remain open on Great Neck Road for local traffic at all times. However, to allow clean-up crews and restoration companies rapid access to the site, we encourage motorists to avoid the area and seek alternative routes if possible.

The City is in a state of local emergency and we are addressing a dynamic situation that is anticipated to last for the remainder of May, perhaps longer. Additional roadway closures may occur as necessary as circumstances evolve. Efforts will be made to minimize these shutdowns. To help motorists plan ahead, residents of Virginia Beach can now receive real-time traffic and road closure updates for Great Neck Road by texting GNROAD to 67283.

"This recovery process will take months," said Public Works director LJ Hansen, who has experienced four tornado cleanups in his career to date. "We are still working to get streets cleared of the debris and this will take several days. We are asking that residents have compassion for their neighbors and patience with City workers. We are working as quickly, efficiently, and methodically as we can to put this neighborhood back together."

We regret the inconvenience this may cause but in the interest of ensuring everyone's safety and avoiding the additional tragedy of an industrial accident, we ask that our residents recognize the need for incident operations to proceed without interference.