1. Nobody closed any lanes down on the George Washington Bridge. This might come as a shock to everyone -- including Freepers -- who have accepted this blatantly false media report as fact, but it's true. If anyone had shut down the George Washington Bridge -- one of the busiest sections of roadway in the country (the bridge carries 14 lanes of I-95 between New Jersey and New York City) -- then this would have been a national story within minutes of the bridge closure.
2. What really happened in September 2013 is that two of the three entrance ramp that feed onto the bridge from the local streets of Fort Lee were closed. From what I can tell, other traffic wasn't disrupted and may have even flowed better across the bridge that day.
3. Related to Item #2 ... The information presented in that Wikipedia article indicates that closing the local lanes from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge PERMANENTLY is probably a good idea. This is because the two lanes from Fort Lee don't feed directly onto the bridge. They feed into specific lanes at the bridge's toll plaza that aren't open to the rest of the motorists who get to the bridge from all the major highways that feed into it.
If there was a political side to this, it's probably driven by a long-running battle among various state transportation agencies who are trying to figure out why Fort Lee residents get their own dedicated toll lanes on the eastbound (NYC-bound) bridge, while the rest of North America -- including converging highways such as I-80, I-95, US Route 46, State Route 4, and the Palisades Parkway -- has to deal with the inevitable daily bottlenecks at the bridge.
Yes, it was the Fort Lee access lanes, I’m well aware of that. I said “close lanes on GWB, etc.” to simply convey the basic idea of the mess was near the GWB. I think it’s a bit silly to quibble about that point - especially since closing the access from Fort Lee actually is the point which makes this “traffic study” about retribution for politicians in the local Fort Lee area. If the main turnpike approach to the GWB, or actual GWB lanes were closed, there would not a Fort Lee aspect to the story, so the question of political retribution could not be raised.
So, to be 100% clear - it’s the access lanes from Fort Lee, everyone, make sure to know that Fatty did not close the GWB. The turnpike people had some great days as I understand it, since the Fort Lee access was narrowed down.
The “traffic study” is a cover story.
The lanes are needed. The traffic disaster which occurred during the “traffic study” (that Christie’s staff seems to have indicated to Port Authority to give it a try those days - and then sent emails back and forth effectively laughing at the traffic situation) proves that the TRAFFIC in the area needs the access lanes. The roads in Fort Lee are not solely used by the residents of Fort Lee.
For 25 years I’ve driven in northern NJ. I OFTEN used backroads rather than highways - traversing through perhaps a dozen municipalities - to commute to work. It was simply a question like having a consistent say 45-minute commute versus a highway commute that was subject to a lot of sitting and backups, some days going well over an hour. Other times I used the highways, but left before 6am, arrived near work by 7am and had breakfast at a diner, then strolled into work a little before 8 - just to avoid the highway “sitting” in rush hour.
In NJ, people can pass through many towns trying to get where they want to go in some sort of decent amount of time - “in spite of” the government-controlled roads being frequently very badly designed and maintained. (As a side note, there was a study a few years back which laid out the facts that NJ spends more per mile of road BY FAR than any other State - it’s almost like the Mafia does the roadwork).
I sometimes see long tie-ups from construction cones being set out for a few miles, when there’s no construction going on. I “write it off” in my mind to corruption and government and contractors not caring about - perhaps laughing at - poor schmucks like me trying to get to work for new world order every day. I just settle in and try to relax. I used to get upset when I was younger, but I’m through “caring” about being late for things. If it’s that important - in NJ - I leave hours before I have to.
Some people involved in this may go to jail, where they will have some quiet time to ponder the proposed Fort Lee traffic study.
As far as faux conservative Christie’s future career, I think that’s over, thankfully, since the public pretty much gets the idea that EVERY politician, business person, diplomat, banker, etc., says they didn’t know what their immediate staff was doing. Just a “rogue employee”, some wild man, independent thinker. Nobody told the boss, entire staff lied to the boss, kept the boss in the dark. Poor little boss, all his best friends and appointees stabbed him in the back, pinning this wrongdoing on him after concocting it up secretly amongst themselves. Never even mentioned it at lunch.
Christie’s trying to sell the public that bridge, but I don’t think they’re buying it.