NSB News photo /
Traffic was bumper to bumper on Flagler Avenue in New Smyrna Beach as shown in this 2:30 p.m. Saturday image from inside the reporter's car window heading west on Flagler Avenue and away from the beach on Saturday morning of Easter weekend.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Traffic was bumper to bumper Saturday. Eastbound, that is.
And though it eased up Easter Sunday, it was still voluminous well into the night, heading out of this seaside city of 25,000.
"It's the price we pay for the tourism," said Deb Dugas, a beachside resident who dislikes the nightitime pub crawls, which she sees as locals from Port Orange, Edgewater and DeLand looking to party.
Where else, but to the beach, would onee would find ceaseless traffic jamswith cars, SUVs, pick-ups and motorcycles.
Literally thousands of people -- locals, day trippers and tourists alike on the hard sands and embracing the curling surf the day before Easter.
"It has been that way for years," Dugas said. "You just accept that when it's a holiday like this, you might as well leave the car in the garage."