Should You Live Across the Water in Hampton Roads? The HRBT Commute Decision

by Jason Edwards

If you’re relocating to Hampton Roads, it probably won’t take long before somebody gives you one particular piece of advice:

“Never cross the tunnel.”

You’ll hear it from military members. Coworkers. Neighbors. People in Facebook groups. Probably somebody’s uncle who hasn’t driven through the HRBT since 2009.

And there’s a reason that advice became so common.

But I also think it can be both some of the best—and some of the worst—advice you’ll get when deciding where to live in Hampton Roads.

For some households, regularly crossing the water can create years of unnecessary frustration.

For others, refusing to even consider the opposite side could eliminate homes that offer significantly more space, a lower payment, or a better overall fit.

The real question isn’t whether tunnels are good or bad.

It’s whether your life fits on the other side of the water.

Why Commute Decisions Are Different in Hampton Roads

One of the first things relocation buyers need to understand is that distance doesn’t always tell you much around here.

In many metro areas, you can look at two points on a map, check the mileage, and get a reasonably good idea of the commute.

Hampton Roads is different.

Water is often a bigger variable than mileage.

Two homes can be similar distances from your workplace while producing very different day-to-day commutes because one requires a major bridge or tunnel crossing and the other doesn’t.

That’s where what I call the same-side rule comes from:

Whenever practical, try to live on the same side of the water as the place you need to be most often.

It’s not an absolute rule.

But it’s a very useful starting point.

Why the HRBT Has Historically Been Different

Hampton Roads has three major James River crossings:

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, or HRBT
The Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, or MMBT
The James River Bridge

All three can experience traffic.

But based on more than two decades of living here, I’ve always considered the HRBT the most difficult of the three.

That’s my local experience, not a scientific traffic ranking.

During my Navy career, I knew plenty of people who lived on the Peninsula while working on the Southside. Many of them liked where they lived.

What they didn’t like was having their schedule controlled by the HRBT.

The frustration wasn’t limited to the normal morning and afternoon rush. Historically, the crossing could become congested at times when you weren’t necessarily expecting it.

That history matters.

But there’s another important part of the conversation now.

The HRBT Is Changing

The HRBT Expansion Project is a major infrastructure project along the I-64 corridor between Hampton and Norfolk.

VDOT says the project adds twin two-lane bored tunnels and will provide eight lanes of total capacity across the water, along with additional highway capacity on either side of the crossing.

That’s significant.

I think it’s reasonable to expect the expanded facility to improve the normal commute.

But I wouldn’t make a home-buying decision based on the assumption that it eliminates traffic altogether.

Incidents still happen.

Weather still happens.

Disabled vehicles still happen.

And traffic patterns throughout Hampton Roads will continue to evolve.

So rather than asking, “Will the HRBT finally be good?”

I think there’s a much better question:

Does crossing the water make sense for my specific situation?

When Living Across the Water Can Make Sense

The biggest factors are how often you commute and what you’re gaining in return.

Consider someone who works remotely four days a week and only needs to cross once a week.

That’s a very different lifestyle from someone making the trip every weekday.

A hybrid worker might decide that accepting one longer commute per week is worth getting:

Another bedroom
A dedicated office
A larger yard
A newer home
A lower payment
More money left in savings

The size of the benefit matters too.

A small difference in home price probably isn’t worth completely reorganizing your life around a difficult commute.

A substantial difference might be.

That’s why I don’t like blanket statements such as “Never live on the Peninsula if you work in Norfolk.”

The better question is:

What am I gaining, and what am I giving up to get it?

When Crossing Probably Doesn’t Make Sense

The equation changes dramatically when your schedule has very little flexibility.

Think about:

Military members with hard report times
Shift workers
Hospital employees
Teachers
First responders
Shipyard workers
Parents managing narrow school or daycare pickup windows

The issue isn’t simply whether the commute takes longer.

It’s how much margin for error you have.

If your normal trip gets delayed thirty minutes, what happens?

Can you arrive later?

Can your spouse handle pickup?

Can you adjust your schedule?

Or does one bad traffic day create a chain reaction through the rest of your day?

The less flexibility you have, the more valuable staying on the same side of the water becomes.

The Five Questions I’d Ask Before Buying Across the Water

Here’s the framework I use to think through the decision.

1. How Often Will You Actually Cross?

Every weekday?

Twice a week?

Once a month?

Frequency matters.

A commute that’s tolerable once a week can become exhausting five days a week.

2. How Flexible Is Your Schedule?

Can you adjust your arrival time?

Leave earlier?

Work remotely occasionally?

Or do you have to be somewhere at a very specific time?

A flexible schedule changes the equation considerably.

3. What Are You Actually Gaining?

Be specific.

Are you getting a meaningfully lower price?

Another bedroom?

A larger lot?

A home office?

A particular housing type that doesn’t fit your budget closer to work?

The upside needs to justify the downside.

4. What Does Your Worst Commute Day Look Like?

Don’t evaluate the decision only using a perfect Tuesday morning.

Think about the occasional bad day.

If the crossing gets heavily backed up, what happens to everything else you’re responsible for?

Your average commute matters.

Your ability to absorb the bad day matters too.

5. Is the Benefit Worth Organizing Part of Your Life Around the Crossing?

This is the question that usually brings everything together.

Not whether somebody online loves or hates the HRBT.

Not whether a house looks close on Google Maps.

Does your particular lifestyle work with that crossing?

Don’t Forget the Second Commute

Dual-income families sometimes make another mistake.

They optimize almost entirely around one person’s job.

For military households, that often means focusing on the service member’s duty station while treating the spouse’s commute as secondary.

But imagine one spouse works at Langley and the other works in Norfolk.

There may not be a perfect same-side answer.

Now you need to consider:

Who commutes more frequently?
Who has the less flexible schedule?
Where are the family’s other responsibilities?
Which direction gives you a better housing fit?
Which person can absorb the greater commute risk?

That’s much more useful than simply saying, “Live close to the base.”

Test the Commute Before You Buy

Whenever possible, drive the route at the time you’d actually travel it.

An 11:00 Sunday morning test drive tells you almost nothing about a 6:30 Tuesday morning commute.

Check multiple days.

Look at both directions.

And pay attention to the roads leading to and away from the crossing—not just the tunnel itself.

Depending on the locations involved, the MMBT or James River Bridge may provide an alternative route.

But make sure it’s a realistic alternative.

Technically having another way home isn’t very useful if that route adds a huge amount of time or mileage.

Use the Commute as Part of the Housing Decision

This is exactly why I created my 757 PCS Commute & Cost Calculator.

Most buyers look at home prices in one place and commute times somewhere else.

The calculator is designed to help you evaluate those two decisions together.

Because the least expensive house isn’t automatically the best value if it costs you hours every week.

And the shortest commute isn’t automatically the best choice if the home doesn’t fit your budget or your life.

You can download the calculator here:

https://realtorjedwards.com/757-pcs-commute-cost-calculator

Whatever you decide, just make sure it’s a decision you made intentionally—not one you backed into because a house looked good online.

FAQs

Is it a bad idea to live on the Peninsula and work on the Southside?

Not automatically. The decision depends heavily on how often you commute, how flexible your schedule is, and what you gain by living on the opposite side of the water. A hybrid worker may view the tradeoff very differently from someone with a hard daily report time.

What are the three main James River crossings in Hampton Roads?

The major crossings are the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, and the James River Bridge.

What is changing with the HRBT expansion?

VDOT says the expansion includes twin two-lane bored tunnels and will create eight lanes of capacity across the water, along with additional highway improvements along the I-64 corridor.

Will the HRBT expansion eliminate traffic?

More capacity should improve normal traffic flow, but buyers shouldn’t assume delays will disappear entirely. Incidents, weather, disabled vehicles, traffic volume and other factors can still affect a commute.

Should military families live on the same side of the water as their base?

It’s a useful starting point, especially for service members with hard report times. But it shouldn’t automatically override housing cost, a spouse’s commute, schedule flexibility and other family logistics.