Sen. Tim Kaine gets here in D.C. after 27 hours in winter season storm traffic congestion

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Sen. Tim Kaine arrives in D.C. after 27 hours in winter storm traffic jam

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Sen Tim Kaine got here on Capitol Hill on Tuesday afternoon, more than a day after getting stuck in a harsh traffic congestion brought on by heavy snows and iced-over roadways on a highway exterior Washington.

A spokesperson for Kaine verified to CNBC quickly prior to 4 p.m. ET that the senator had actually come to his D.C. workplace, almost 27 hours after leaving his house in Richmond, Virginia.

“I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday,” Kaine tweeted at 8: 27 a.m. ET. “19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol.”

Still in his vehicle around 10 a.m., Kaine tweeted, “A CT family returning in a packed car from Florida walked by in the middle of the night handing out oranges as we were stopped for hours on I-95. Bless them!”

“This has been a miserable experience, but at some point I kind of made the switch from a miserable travel experience into kind of a survival project,” Kaine stated in a phone interview Tuesday early morning with Washington radio station WTOP.

The Democratic senator, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 election won by previous President Donald Trump, stated he had actually planned to go back to work Monday to continue Senate settlements on a voting-rights offer. But more than 21 hours after leaving his house in Richmond, Va., he still had actually not passed the Stafford Airport, which has to do with 50 miles from Washington.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, I guess that’s all I can say,” Kaine stated in the phone interview.

Stranded lorries are seen in still image from highway traffic cam video as authorities worked to resume an icy stretch of Interstate 95 closed after a storm blanketed the U.S. area in snow a day previously, near Colchester, Virginia, January 4, 2022.

Virginia Department of Transportation|Handout|through Reuters

The Virginia Department of Transportation has actually closed the I-95 interstate, with handicapped lorries and downed trees being reported in the Fredericksburg location, about 50 miles south of D.C.

“We have an estimated 20-30 trucks stuck” on I-95 northbound, Virginia DOT Fredericksburg tweeted quickly prior to midnight.

Conditions are harmful on other Virginia roadways, too, with VDOT caution Louisa County over night of “several jack-knifed tractor-trailers” on U.S. Route 522.

“We wish we had a timetable, ETA or an educated guess on when travel will resume on I-95. It’s at a standstill in our area with multiple incidents. Its frustrating & scary,” VDOT Fredericksburg tweeted Monday night.

NBC News’ Josh Lederman, who was likewise stuck in his automobile overnight, called the scene “fairly dystopian” in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday early morning.

“Nobody knows how long we’re going to be here or how we’re going to get out,” he reported from his vehicle.

Other motorists stranded in the gridlock were required to switch off their cars and trucks to save fuel, even as temperature levels plunged listed below freezing over night, Lederman stated.

VirginiaGov Ralph Northam tweeted Tuesday early morning that “State and local emergency personnel are continuing to clear downed trees, assist disabled vehicles, and re-route drivers.”

“An emergency message is going to all stranded drivers connecting them to support, and the state is working with localities to open warming shelters as needed. While sunlight is expected to help @VaDOT clear the road, all Virginians should continue to avoid 1-95,” Northam tweeted.

Another press reporter, CBS News’ Jim DeFede, stated in a video published at 10 a.m. that he had actually been stuck on I-95 near Quantico for almost 18 hours.