In 1976 for the bi centennial July 4 parade of ships up the Hudson River we were told to stay off the roads by the media.
I did not. In fact drove in from eastern PA. The roads were empty, even by Saturday standards. An easy ride.
Since then I have dis regarded traffic hype.
I spent three days on the water that weekend. The media was screaming there would be mayhem on the water with all the boat traffic. Well, there WERE thousands of boats in the harbor and on the Hudson that Sunday and two lives WERE lost. A small rowboat with a kicker and three people overturned in Hell Gate and one was lost. The other was a woman in a houseboat who was killed when some miscreant dropped a cement block onto the boat from the 59 St. bridge. She was in the galley washing dishes at the time.