NEW YORK, N.Y. — A motorcyclist died early Thursday after colliding with a tractor-trailer while crossing the George Washington Bridge, shutting the New York-bound upper level through much of the morning rush.
Port Authority police put the time of the crash near 5:19 a.m., on the Manhattan-bound upper deck that carries the Trans-Manhattan Expressway. FDNY crews were called to a report of a rider struck by a big rig and found the motorcyclist already dead. The truck’s driver escaped injury. Officials had not released the rider’s name.
The bi-state Port Authority, which runs the crossing, closed every upper-level lane headed into the city while police worked the scene, then posted updates as crews cleared the wreck. Some of those lanes started opening again around 8:15 a.m., and the full upper level toward Manhattan was back in service later in the morning.
The shutdown left traffic crawling for miles through Fort Lee, N.J., on the approaches to the span. Police in the borough sent officers to stand at key intersections and urged commuters to find another way across the Hudson.
Drivers felt the ripple well beyond the bridge. The Port Authority also reported slow going at the Holland Tunnel and at the Outerbridge Crossing and Goethals Bridge on Staten Island during the commute.
The deadly wreck came only days after a shooting on the same bridge that investigators have tied to a possible road rage confrontation, putting the busiest crossing into the city back in the spotlight for the second time in a week.
Section: More New York NY crime news
Filed under: New York NY Traffic News