story that we are following here on live
now from fox i do want to lower that
volume for you here as you can hear
lots of traffic lots of trucks making
their way to d.c now we were following a
similar story out of canada very
recently here on live now from fox but
authorities are anticipating heavy
traffic and delays today as a trucker
convoy again makes their way onto the
roads surrounding the nation's capital
these are truckers with the people's
convoy arriving in d.c this is some of
the footage that our fox 5 d.c team has
shot over the weekend so i do want to
head out live right now to the area that
is where fox 5 dc's maureen ume is
joining us live with the very latest
maureen good morning to you i know that
your team has been following this story
all weekend long as they've arrived so
what can you tell us this morning i know
that traffic is expected to be impacted
[Applause]
indeed it is good morning to you so we
are here on 270. this is an offshoot of
the beltway where the people's convoys
expected to converge at some point today
organizers haven't given us a definitive
timeline of when they will be out again
on the roads but if you were out
yesterday afternoon you saw them a long
lines almost uh 30 minutes long worth of
uh truckers and supporters with flags
waving on the interstate now what
they're doing they're not blocking
traffic they say that's not their goal
they really just want to make their
presence felt and to that end we do have
a lot of law enforcement officials who
are here keeping a watch to make sure
that things are moving smoothly as you
can see behind me though this is morning
traffic and it is going uh very well but
the video you're looking at is what we
caught this weekend the people's convoy
again making their way around the
beltway they're expected to circle the
beltway twice and then head back to
hagerstown maryland where they begin
gathering on friday the dc area is their
last publicized stop for the convoy
which has driven across the country to
protest against copenhagen related
mandates but a lot as you know has
changed since the truckers and their
supporters have been driving across the
country under guidelines issued by the
cdc and
centers for disease control and
prevention less than 10 percent of the
u.s population actually lives in an area
where masks are now recommended
organizers so they say though they're
not deterred by this they're going to
keep on pressing on making sure that
freedoms are not encroached upon take a
listen
[Applause]
over the next several days and to allow
extra time for your commute as you come
back to work tomorrow
to potentially look at other modes of
transportation including metro
and to sign up for alertdc at
alert.dc.gov which is our primary way of
communicating any traffic impacts and to
look at that
before you go out tomorrow
now maureen how long do we anticipate
that this convoy will be in the d.c
region i know that when we covered a
similar story in canada they were out
there for more than three weeks
luckily nothing that extended here we're
hearing they're here at least until
tomorrow their plan is to try to meet
with members of congress who would be
sympathetic to their cause to listen to
them so they're not planning this
extended blockade or protest here in the
dc region again they're just here from
here till tomorrow and then heading back
up to the hagerstown maryland area where
they've been staging since friday so
again for right now things looking okay
we're not even sure exactly when they
plan to convene today but so far so good
authorities saying please make alternate
plans nonetheless because you never know
how badly traffic can start i mean on a
regular day slip traffic can be pretty
bad here on the beltway in the offshoot
so with this protest plan it's a good
idea to plan alternate routes and
definitely if you have
the means to work from home we're asking
you to do that as well
yes certainly well we will definitely
keep in touch with you and your team
throughout the day to talk about those
impacts and
really get that feed when they arrive so
maureen as always thank you so much for
keeping our viewers up to speed we'll be
checking in with you again soon have a
good day
[Applause]