MAYHEM ON THE BRIDGE
Traffic snarled for two hours as cops try to rescue a man trying to jump off the George Washington Bridge
BY JOHN VALENTI.john.valenti@newsday.com
June 2, 2007
A level of the George Washington Bridge as shut down for more than two hours Friday morning after a man armed with a box-cutter razor climbed a bridge cable, slashed his arms and wrists repeatedly and threatened to jump.
The standoff lasted more than an hour before emergency services officers from the New York Police Department and Port Authority of New York & New Jersey finally talked the man down and captured him at 8:30 a.m.
And motorists seeking information on the traffic problems from a multi-million-dollar New York State Department of Transportation Web site designed to inform travelers about delays were out of luck. Word of the large metro-area traffic jam went unreported on www.travelinfony.com - until Newsday called the agency.
Law enforcement agents closed the upper level of the bridge at 7:06 a.m. Friday after the man climbed a cable on the north side of the span and threatened to jump. The lower level remained open to cars, though trucks were banned.
After emergency services officers captured the man, who authorities did not identify, he was taken to Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, N.J., for observation and evaluation, Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said.
The closure caused massive traffic jams that backed up the New Jersey Turnpike, Palisades Parkway, Route 46, Cross Bronx Expressway, Major Deegan and other roads leading to the George Washington for miles. Even after the upper level was re-opened at 9:30 a.m., the ensuing traffic snarl took hours to clear.
But it wasn't until the bridge was re-opened that the state DOT Web site began reporting the closure and delays.
"Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication and we didn't realize it [the information] wasn't up until you called this morning," state DOT spokeswoman Carol Breen said. "Normally, we would have had a traveler's advisory posted."
Breen said the glitch occurred because computer links between the metro-area traffic information system and the state Web site have not been completed. Instead, she said, state DOT staff still have to input information about the city's roadways by hand. The system, called "Real-Time Transportation Status," features maps of all major roads in the state and is supposed to alert Web users to all delays, closures and so-called "critical incidents" on those roads.
"That's what the system is there for," Breen said. "For incidents like this ... if that's not being reported there, that's a problem." She said the computer links are scheduled to be finalized later this year.
June 2, 2007
A level of the George Washington Bridge as shut down for more than two hours Friday morning after a man armed with a box-cutter razor climbed a bridge cable, slashed his arms and wrists repeatedly and threatened to jump.
The standoff lasted more than an hour before emergency services officers from the New York Police Department and Port Authority of New York & New Jersey finally talked the man down and captured him at 8:30 a.m.
And motorists seeking information on the traffic problems from a multi-million-dollar New York State Department of Transportation Web site designed to inform travelers about delays were out of luck. Word of the large metro-area traffic jam went unreported on www.travelinfony.com - until Newsday called the agency.
Law enforcement agents closed the upper level of the bridge at 7:06 a.m. Friday after the man climbed a cable on the north side of the span and threatened to jump. The lower level remained open to cars, though trucks were banned.
After emergency services officers captured the man, who authorities did not identify, he was taken to Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, N.J., for observation and evaluation, Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said.
The closure caused massive traffic jams that backed up the New Jersey Turnpike, Palisades Parkway, Route 46, Cross Bronx Expressway, Major Deegan and other roads leading to the George Washington for miles. Even after the upper level was re-opened at 9:30 a.m., the ensuing traffic snarl took hours to clear.
But it wasn't until the bridge was re-opened that the state DOT Web site began reporting the closure and delays.
"Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication and we didn't realize it [the information] wasn't up until you called this morning," state DOT spokeswoman Carol Breen said. "Normally, we would have had a traveler's advisory posted."
Breen said the glitch occurred because computer links between the metro-area traffic information system and the state Web site have not been completed. Instead, she said, state DOT staff still have to input information about the city's roadways by hand. The system, called "Real-Time Transportation Status," features maps of all major roads in the state and is supposed to alert Web users to all delays, closures and so-called "critical incidents" on those roads.
"That's what the system is there for," Breen said. "For incidents like this ... if that's not being reported there, that's a problem." She said the computer links are scheduled to be finalized later this year.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
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