Newark, NJ – Rush hour drivers across New Jersey faced a messy commute Friday morning with multiple crashes, disabled vehicles, and heavy backups leading into New York City.
At 7:34 a.m., a crash on the New Jersey Turnpike at Interchange 12 in Carteret left one toll lane blocked, slowing traffic entering from the Carteret-Rahway corridor. Just minutes earlier, a disabled vehicle on the Eastern Spur near Interchange 17E in Secaucus partially blocked an exit ramp to the Lincoln Tunnel, adding to delays in Hudson County.
Police activity also disrupted traffic in Elizabeth, where a lane closure on North Avenue at Kapkowski Road caused eastbound slowdowns. Farther south, I-295 drivers were hit with two incidents: a crash near Exit 40 in Mount Laurel that closed the right shoulder and a downed streetlight near Exit 32 in Cherry Hill that left all lanes open but required crews on scene.
Commuters heading into Manhattan encountered long waits at all major crossings. At 7:32 a.m., travel times through both the Lincoln Tunnel’s center and south tubes were reported at 20 minutes from Turnpike Exit 16E. The Holland Tunnel showed similar delays at about 20 minutes from Exit 14C and 25 minutes from Route 139 in Jersey City. The George Washington Bridge was the most congested, with travel times of 25 minutes on the lower level and 30 minutes on the upper level from I-80 to the Alexander Hamilton Bridge.
Volume-related delays added to the congestion across the state. The Turnpike Eastern and Western Spurs both reported two-mile backups approaching Newark, while the Garden State Parkway saw slowdowns in Bloomfield and East Orange. NJ 21 in Newark, NJ 208 in Fair Lawn, NJ 495 in North Bergen, and the Pulaski Skyway into Jersey City all reported heavy but moving traffic.
Drivers are being urged to allow extra time on the roads as congestion builds heading into mid-morning.
