Letters for July 13: Could Virginia buy the Midtown, Downtown tunnels contract?

Tunnel contract

The Midtown and Downtown tunnels contract is for sale to the highest bidder. Why doesn’t the state of Virginia buy it? I drive through the tunnel from northern Suffolk twice a day, five days a week and sometimes on the weekend. I enjoy the use of the tunnel, and I understand that the project needs to be paid for.

What I don’t understand is the daily cost to use it, and the fact that the cost increases each year. If the state were to purchase the contract, it could reduce the cost of going through the tunnel and I imagine more people would use it.


Of course, reducing the cost would lengthen the amount of time to pay off whatever the original cost was, but it would eventually be paid for. I remember growing up, the cost to go through the tunnel was 25 cents. In some places in the area, tolls were 10 cents. Eventually, the tolls were removed. I imagine the same thing could happen now. The toll cost is a real burden. I love where I live in Suffolk, but I’ve actually been thinking about moving back across the water. It would save me at least $100 a month. C’mon Virginia. Let’s do this.

Diana Hines, Suffolk


Clean energy jobs

Re “Virginia’s wind-powered future: Second offshore turbine now towering over Atlantic” (June 29): What great news for Virginians! Not only will the offshore wind industry bring 5,112 megawatts of electricity to Virginia as mentioned in this article, it will also bring offshore wind manufacturing to Hampton Roads.

With the commonwealth investing in the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, and Ørsted leasing land in Portsmouth to support turbine construction, we are in the perfect position to grow the clean energy job opportunities right here in Hampton Roads.

As a Portsmouth resident, I am eager to see these developments happening right here in my own city. With the Elizabeth River being polluted by Lamberts Point Coal Terminal in our own backyard, it’s about time we have more cities and companies investing in clean energy as a means to mitigate the climate crisis we are facing. Offshore wind can help make that happen as we make the shift from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy.

I am hopeful that Portsmouth will continue to be a leader in this effort and in it’s support of bringing the offshore wind manufacturing to Hampton Roads.

Brian Williamson, Portsmouth

It is up to us

Our forefathers may not have been perfect, but the documents that they left us are pretty close to it. The Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Federalist Papers were written for posterity. These great Americans from about 250 years ago knew that one day there would be millions upon millions of us, from all walks of life, living among each other.

We know they were not foolish. Don’t you think that they saw the ambiguities, the contradictions in their powerful words? Of course, they did. John Adams’ wife Abigail did not let him forget that women needed to be included. He just didn’t do it. Thomas Jefferson certainly had to know that African Americans were 100% human beings. When he had six children with Sally Hemings, did he see her as only three-fifths of a person?Logic tells me no.

People with the power rarely give it up willingly, and these white men fit that profile. They had to know that it would be up to future Americans to fully discharge the words in the Constitution. That is why they left the door open for amendments. They knew that their words would one day need to be revised and more properly enforced. All humans are created equal, not just white men. It is up to us to make this the more perfect union that our founders espoused. The principles of which Jefferson, James Madison, et al., laid down for us are finally ready to be implemented in full.

Michael Miner, Virginia Beach

Watch for backlash

What to do with anger? Misplaced anger is like spitting into the wind. It does no good, and it is bad for your health. Probably spreads coronavirus too. The anger that we are witnessing every day is a prime example and is causing nothing but resentment because it is not directed. It is the equivalent of a childish tantrum that is destroying what so many of us have spent our lives trying to build.

It is easy to find fault, most of us have spent our entire lives trying to overcome adversity and ignorance and achieve our places in life. Do something constructive with your anger. Put it where it belongs. Today’s world is a result of a lot of good people lighting a candle to make the world a better place. So many of today’s candles are being destroyed before they have a chance to be lit.

When you destroy my beliefs, it destroys me. That makes me angry and is going to cause a backlash that is going to destroy all of us and will take centuries to overcome. Put your efforts into something positive; negativity never accomplished much.


Donald Douglas, Virginia Beach

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