Days after blaming Virginia motorists for a more than 24 hour pileup on I-95 in the northern part of the state, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) now wants Virginians to thank the state government for the pleasure.
“I hate to vent on you right now, Matt, but I am getting sick and tired of people talking about what went wrong. I think we ought to be very thankful that nobody got hurt, nobody lost their lives, Interstate-95 is up and running, and people are back at home and back at work,” Northam told WRVA reporter Matt Demlein.
Northam added that Virginians “ought to sit back and say thank you so much to our agencies and roadside management, [Virginia Department of Transportation], the Virginia state police,” and others who helped remedy the situation.
The jam, which lasted from Monday into Tuesday, saw thousands of cars in standstill traffic for more than 24 hours while heavy snow fell. The traffic jam began when a tractor trailer jackknifed across the highway. Several other motorists also got into accidents after the initial crash.
But Northam took no responsibility for what happened.
Earlier this week, he implied that the backup was the fault of motorists.
“We gave warnings, and people need to pay attention to these warnings, and the less people that are on the highways when these storms hit, the better,” Northam told The Washington Post.
He also claimed that the winter weather was “incredibly unusual,” despite the fact that snow is common during the winter in northern Virginia.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) was one of the unlucky Virginians who found himself stuck in the traffic.
He said his typical two hour drive took a full 27 hours,
Some partisans were quick to blame Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin (R) for the logjam. He does not take office until Jan. 15.
Northam’s office did not return a comment request.
VDOT released a statement saying that it will review the incident.
“Secretary of Transportation Shannon Valentine and Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran have requested the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Virginia State Police (VSP) and Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) to include a comprehensive timeline of events in the multi-agency after-action review already underway to address performance gaps and identify ways to mitigate the challenges faced during this incident,” that statement said. “Upon finalization of this report, there will be a media advisory.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
