WASHINGTON — Editor's Note: The video above is from March 6.
Triaging trucker traffic to this point has been mostly limited to the beltway sweeping the convoy participants into the normal mix of backups and brake lights. But for the third day in a row, truckers looking to protest against mandates clogged D.C. highways.
Metro Police confirmed Wednesday that the trucker convoy protests entered I-395 from the Virginia side of Washington and moved their way across I-695 and finally back down I-295. MPD said they closed all of the exits and off ramps on I-395 as a precaution to help funnel the trucks back out of the district in a timely manner.
"Expect heavy traffic, delays and road closures along Inbound 395 from Virginia into Washington, DC due to the Trucker Convoy," MPD tweeted via their traffic account around 1 p.m.
Truckers who called into WUSA9 claimed that MPD's actions in closing the exits have caused additional stress on the protesters, as well as local drivers, preventing many from entering downtown D.C. through their normal means. The major delays and road closures lasted more than three hours in the middle of the day Wednesday.
Other trucker convoy participants questioned the communication from authorities and continued to call for action from Congress. The convoy has been protesting mandates for healthcare workers and federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccines or face consequences.
The protests have been conducted in a similar fashion to the truck driver protests that halted Canadian government operations in the capital of Ottawa over the last month.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) met with, and even rode along with, the truck drivers last week, including meeting with leaders in a livestreamed press conference.
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