The BridgeGhazi Tapes Reveal Chaos In Fort Lee

I am guessing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie must be thinking, “Where is Rose Mary Woods when I could really use her?”

Newly released 911 and police radio tapes reveal that on the first morning of the controversial George Washington Bridge lane closures last year, officers and emergency responders in Fort Lee were grappling with city-wide traffic gridlock.

At 8:52 a.m. on Sept. 9, a dispatcher warned paramedics leaving a hospital about coming to the Bergen County borough.

“Fort Lee traffic is a nightmare,” the dispatcher said. “Come up through Palisades Park for that.”

At 9:02 a.m., a police officer was trying to help an ambulance plot ways to avoid inbound traffic.

“Do you have a medical unit dispatched?” the officer asked a dispatcher. “The GW Bridge is totally gridlocked.”

Four minutes later, another officer complained of heavy traffic.

“It’s backed up all the way, probably into Cliffside,” the officer said. “It’s all due to the the new pattern.”

“10-4,” the dispatcher responded. “We’re getting calls from irate motorists.”

Fort Lee’s municipal clerk released the tapes this morning as Gov. Chris Christie’s office continues to deal with the political fallout from the lane closings at the nation’s busiest bridge, which caused a traffic mess for days in the borough.

Our frienjds over at Crooks and Liars have extended tape excerpts.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.