GWB Traffic Study Led to Fort Lee Lane Closures, Official Says

A traffic study led the Port Authority to close two of three access lanes from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge, a top agency official told state lawmakers Monday.

According to an Associated Press report, Bill Baroni, deputy executive director of the Port Authority, apologized that his agency didn’t alert Fort Lee officials ahead of the closures. The closures snarled traffic in Fort Lee and led to claims the move was a politically-motivated strike against Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Gov. Chris Christie’s re-election bid.  

Only 4.8 percent of New York City-bound traffic over the bridge comes from the Fort Lee-area, yet the access lanes account for 25 percent of the 12 upper deck lanes, Baroni told members of the Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee, the Star-Ledger reported.

"Is that fair?” he said, the newspaper reported.

The study revealed that shifting the lanes cut 4 minutes from the average upper level commute for drivers from the other approach, he said.

Baroni, a Christie appointee, said the closures were ordered by David Wildstein, the agency’s director of interstate capital projects, after a suggestion from a Port Authority police union official, according to the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper first reported that Wildstein, a former Republican mayor and Christie ally, was behind the closures.

Democrats on the panel slammed the testimony and said it left many questions still unanswered about the Sept. 9 closures.

“It’s very alarming that this agency could act so cavalierly and come here with a smug attitude and not be forthcoming,” Assembly Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski, the committee chairman, said in a statement.

“At best these lane closures were clumsy and ham-handed and not befitting an agency that is entrusted with handling billions of dollars every year,” Wisniewski said. “At worst, this was political mischief by, among others, a political appointee who was not made available for testimony.”

The Port Authority’s press office issued a statement following the closures saying they were caused by a traffic study. However, agency Executive Director Patrick Foye sent an angry email ordering the lanes reopened and called the traffic change “abusive.”

Foye, an appointee of Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, did not appear at Monday’s hearing, citing a scheduling conflict. Wisniewski was reportedly mulling using a subpoena to force Foye, Wildstein and other officials to testify.