Deadly crash on NYC bridge snarls traffic for miles

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Published June 12, 2014, 7:29 a.m. ET
The crushed truck is finally towed off the George Washington bridge nearly 7 hours after it first read ended another truck.
A crushed truck is towed off the George Washington Bridge nearly seven hours after it rear-ended another truck. Joseph Abadi

A deadly truck crash on the George Washington Bridge early Thursday blitzed commuters with hours-long traffic delays from as far north as the Tappan Zee Bridge to Staten Island’s bridges and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

The mayhem began when Joao Daponta, 59, who was driving a truck with appliances on the bridge’s upper level toward New York City, rear-ended another truck with 40,000 pounds of frozen chicken at 2:30 a.m.

He was pinned inside the New Jersey-based Hermann Leasing Truck and died.

The scene Thursday morning on the George Washington BridgeSeth Gottfried

Investigators are looking at whether Daponta, who was a resident of North Planfield, NJ, fell asleep at the wheel or had a medical condition, sources said.

The force of the crash was so great, first responders initially believed the two trucks were one, police sources told The Post.

The truck with the frozen poultry, owned by the North Carolina-based Daryl Trucking, hit a tanker after it was rear-ended, according to the company.

The chicken-truck driver, 63, was rushed to Englewood Hospital in New Jersey with non-life-threatening injuries.

Seth Gottfried
He has since been released, and is staying with a relative until he is well enough to travel back to North Carolina.

At the same time, a witness reported seeing a man on the north walkway abandon his car and jump off the side of the bridge.

The car was found abandoned, but the body has not been located.

The lower level of the bridge stayed open, but the lanes on the upper level did not open fully until about 11:45 a.m., nine hours after the crash.

“It took that time to make sure we had the scene catalogued properly — photographs, measurements,” said Port Authority Police Capt. Ron Shindel.

The resulting backed-up traffic snarled the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the Tappan Zee Bridge, Staten Island spans like the Outerbridge Crossing, and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Commuters jammed NJ Transit to escape the congestion.

Driver Eliott Wolbrom and other New Yorkers griped on Twitter:

Motorists will also face traffic headaches on the bridge this summer.

Starting Monday, the Port Authority will shut down three upper-level lanes for 12 weeks overnight as construction workers rehab its deck.

The lanes will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 10 p.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday.

Drivers will catch a break only on Sundays.

Car drivers can use the lower level, but truck drivers must use the upper level.