CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Orange road signs alerting drivers of a road closure could be seen near Historic Greenbrier Farms in Chesapeake on Thursday.
The signs were part of the preparation for former President Donald Trump's rally on Friday.
One sign was at the intersection of Sign Pine Road and St. Brides Road. Another was in the median on Edinburgh Pkwy. near Walmart.
“Traffic is going to be horrendous," Chesapeake Mayor Rick West said Thursday. "That's what we do know."
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West was asking people attending Friday’s rally to be patient.
“Understand it’s going to take a while to get there. It’s not just going to affect Chesapeake. It’s probably going to affect the whole Southside traffic patterns," West said.
Sign Pine Road will be closed at the intersection with St. Brides Road except for local traffic. The closure was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. Friday and last until the event ends.
That means attendees have to use St. Brides Road to access the property. Intermittent closures on I-64 and Hwy. 168 were also expected on Friday.
News 3 called Virginia State Police to try to talk about the closures. A spokesperson said VSP is helping the Secret Service, but because they're only assisting, VSP can’t comment.
“I don’t know how the emergency vehicles would get here, or [how] hospice would get down here," said Chesapeake resident Kathy Brokab.
Brokab lives on Sign Pine Road and told News 3 Monday she was very concerned about the traffic congestion.
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Jeanne Sheppard is the co-owner of a nearby business and said the business is excited and is having signs made to promote the business.
“Usually what happens is they go onto the 168 bypass, so they go right around us and never see that we’re here. This kind of forces them to come down the business avenue and see that we are here and go to the stores," Sheppard explained.
Because of the road closures and expected traffic, Sentara announced Thursday that Sentara Family Medicine & Pediatrics at Sentara Edinburgh, Sentara Therapy Center at Sentara Edinburgh, and Sentara Edinburgh Diagnostic Center will be closed on Friday.
Patients who had appointments scheduled for Friday have been notified and had their appointments adjusted, Sentara said in a news release.
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“We're going to have everybody on board working in different areas of the city to make sure things go as smoothly as possible," said West. "It will be an experience that we’ll learn from."
This rally is not the first time a politician has held an event at Historic Greenbrier Farms. A few years ago, now-Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin held an event there.
