Demanding Answers: Motorists Stuck For Hours After Crash, HazMat Spill On Sprain Brook Parkway
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was a nightmare commute for hundreds of drivers in Westchester County on Wednesday.
Motorists were stranded for hours after a crash on the Sprain Brook Parkway with some cars turning around to escape the gridlock.
"It was the craziest thing ever," Evan Lewis told CBS2's Brian Conybeare.
Lewis and his mother Lisa were stuck in the traffic nightmare on Wednesday night, as thousands of drivers were trapped in complete gridlock, some for more than four hours on a sweltering night.
It was all due to a crash involving a swimming pool company worker that spilled hydrochloric acid and chlorine creating a HazMat cleanup that shut the parkway down.
Ambulances and cars were going the wrong way as some drivers tried to cut across the median.
It's about 3.5 miles between exits on that stretch of the Sprain Brook and there are no emergency turnaround lanes in the median.
"There's no excuse," Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said.
Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said emergency crews failed to help stranded drivers and he's asking the state to install turnaround lanes.
"We have to learn from the mistakes that were made last night," he said.
A state police spokesperson admitted that "things could have been done differently" and that they may "make adjustments to protocols" because of what happened.
Lisa Lewis said a civilian even got out of his car and started directing drivers to cut through a gap in the guardrail, cross the median, and head north.
"He jumped right in there, and he's a hero in my opinion. I mean he was just awesome," she said.
The only bright spot in a hot miserable mess.