Norfolk sits on a peninsula wrapped by the Elizabeth River, the Lafayette River and the Chesapeake Bay, and water shapes nearly every trip. I-64 crosses the city's north side, linking the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel to the Peninsula with Chesapeake and Virginia Beach to the south and east. I-264 runs from the Downtown Tunnel to Portsmouth east through the city toward Virginia Beach, I-464 crosses the river south to Chesapeake, and I-564 runs to Naval Station Norfolk. The Midtown Tunnel provides another crossing to Portsmouth. Hampton Boulevard carries traffic to Old Dominion University and the naval base, and Tidewater Drive and Military Highway are major north-south routes.
For a mobile mechanic, the tunnels and bridges are the bottlenecks. Traffic backs up at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Downtown and Midtown tunnels during rush hour, and a breakdown inside a tunnel is a serious problem that gets towed out quickly. Inside the city, though, most neighborhoods are compact and easy to reach on surface streets, from the old homes of Ghent and Larchmont to the beach cottages of Ocean View and the bungalows of Norview. Many streets in older neighborhoods have no driveways, so curbside repairs are the norm.
Norfolk International Airport sits on the northeast side of the city, and its lots are a common service location. Hampton Roads Transit runs buses, the light rail line from downtown east toward the Virginia Beach line and a passenger ferry to Portsmouth. Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world, dominates the northwest side, and Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University and the medical center near Ghent bring heavy daily traffic.