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"... conducting a study of traffic patterns."
Really?
That's the "official" excuse for closing two of three lanes on the George Washington Bridge.
Police and elected officials in Fort Lee, N.J., say they weren't given warning that the Port Authority planned to reduce the number of local access lanes directly from Fort Lee to the bridge from three to one—causing traffic to back up in the borough—and are still puzzled by the official explanation that the agency was conducting a study of traffic patterns.
After the two local lanes handling Fort Lee traffic were closed, cars and trucks quickly clogged streets used by local travelers to reach the bridge and New York City. Local officials said the backup led to long delays for Fort Lee buses traveling for the first day of school Monday.
Within the Port Authority, meanwhile, the decision to close the traffic lanes caused tension, people with knowledge of the matter said. Those people said the lane closures came as a surprise to some high-ranking officials at the bistate agency, which operates area bridges, tunnels and airports.
The local lanes were reopened Thursday morning, one of the people said, after an order from Executive Director Patrick Foye, who argued that the abrupt shift in traffic patterns caused a threat to public safety and should have been advertised to the public ahead of time.
For its part, the agency was sticking with a written statement. "The Port Authority has conducted a week of study at the George Washington Bridge of traffic safety patterns," it said. "We will now review those results and determine the best traffic patterns at the GWB. We will continue to work with our local law enforcement partners."
--more--
WSJ
After the two local lanes handling Fort Lee traffic were closed, cars and trucks quickly clogged streets used by local travelers to reach the bridge and New York City. Local officials said the backup led to long delays for Fort Lee buses traveling for the first day of school Monday.
Within the Port Authority, meanwhile, the decision to close the traffic lanes caused tension, people with knowledge of the matter said. Those people said the lane closures came as a surprise to some high-ranking officials at the bistate agency, which operates area bridges, tunnels and airports.
The local lanes were reopened Thursday morning, one of the people said, after an order from Executive Director Patrick Foye, who argued that the abrupt shift in traffic patterns caused a threat to public safety and should have been advertised to the public ahead of time.
For its part, the agency was sticking with a written statement. "The Port Authority has conducted a week of study at the George Washington Bridge of traffic safety patterns," it said. "We will now review those results and determine the best traffic patterns at the GWB. We will continue to work with our local law enforcement partners."
--more--
WSJ
The Port Authority will now review the results and determine the "best traffic patterns." I wonder if a "report" will be made public...
6 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
You get on the bridge at one end and then you get off the bridge at the other. I may be missing something but I don't see how one could deviate from this "pattern."
