Commuter Chaos: Penn Station, Traffic Finally Clear After Route 495 Crash Cripples Holiday Travel
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Wednesday's crash in Union City caused a commuting nightmare on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
With the Lincoln Tunnel and 495 shut down for hours, drivers were forced to try to get to alternate routes out of the city. That caused a mess in Midtown with back ups for miles heading toward the Holland Tunnel. Those jams lasted well into the evening as drivers tried to escape the city for the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
MORE: 12 Injured After Truck Falls Off N.J. Overpass Onto Route 495, Snarls Holiday Commute For Thousands
"The traffic is crazy, no movement at all," one driver told CBS2's Jessica Layton.
"Horrible, I'm tired, I want to go home... I'm hungry," another couple sitting in their car for hours said.
"Been a rough day. I came in from the Lincoln Tunnel and so I saw what was going on and I've been here about an hour and a half," one truck driver added.
Bus service from the Port Authority Bus Terminal was also canceled while 495 was shut down. NJ TRANSIT trains cross honored bus tickets, turning Penn station into another madhouse in New York. Those commuters dealt with packed trains, long delays, cancellations, and mass confusion into the night.
Traffic wasn't reopened until around 7 p.m.
As of late Wednesday night, mass transit in the city was reporting that bus and trains into New Jersey was back on schedule.
