Manhattan-bound lanes on the George Washington Bridge's upper level were closed for hours Thursday morning after a truck carrying poultry crashed into another transporting refrigerators, killing one person and causing miles-long backups on roads leading to the span.
The tractor-trailers crashed shortly before 2:30 a.m., blocking the upper deck's eastbound lanes, according to the Port Authority. An agency spokesman said the driver of one truck apparently rear-ended the other. That driver was killed.
The driver of the truck that was hit did not have major injuries, the Port Authority said. It was not immediately clear whether the chicken shipment was made up of live animals.
The eastbound lanes on the bridge's upper level reopened hours later, just before noon. Earlier, delays to the bridge had climbed up to three hours.
All lanes on the lower level and the upper level's westbound side were open, but there were heavy delays to those lanes as well.
"Avoid the bridge at all costs," a Port Authority spokesman said during rush hour.
Bus service to and from the George Washington Bridge Terminal was also plagued by delays, according to NJ Transit, and delays of up to two hours were reported at the inbound Lincoln and Holland tunnels.
