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The New York Area Was Nearly Paralyzed by 6 Inches of Snow. What Went Wrong? The New York Area Was Nearly Paralyzed by 6 Inches of Snow. What Went Wrong?
(about 3 hours later)
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Huge crowds of stranded commuters waited in the snow outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan in a line that stretched a full city block. Thousands of commuters were stranded outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, the busiest bus station in the country, after more than 1,100 scheduled buses were canceled. The line of people stretched a full city block.
Buses were forced off the roads in New Jersey, so children had to spend the night at school, sleeping on gym mats until their parents finally rescued them in the morning.
The upper level of the George Washington Bridge — one of the busiest bridges in the world — turned into a parking lot after an icy 20-vehicle crash, with drivers abandoning their cars.The upper level of the George Washington Bridge — one of the busiest bridges in the world — turned into a parking lot after an icy 20-vehicle crash, with drivers abandoning their cars.
The New York region was all but paralyzed by an early winter storm that led to recriminations and second-guessing on Friday about what exactly went wrong. Even some of the most grizzled commuters had never endured such a meltdown and vented their fury at those in charge of running the buses and trains and clearing the highways. Buses were forced off the roads in New Jersey, so children had to spend the night at school, sleeping on gym mats until their parents were able to rescue them in the morning.
Leaders in New York and New Jersey said they were caught off guard by the ferocity of the storm after early forecasts predicted a light dusting. Mayor Bill de Blasio said he understood why people were frustrated and would review the city’s storm response. The New York region was all but paralyzed by an early winter storm that led to recriminations and second-guessing Friday about what exactly went wrong. Even grizzled commuters said they had never endured such a meltdown, venting their fury at those in charge of running buses and trains and clearing highways.
”I’m not happy with the end result,” Mr. de Blasio said in an interview on NY1 on Friday morning. “It’s unacceptable.” The storm was unexpected but not especially powerful. As a result, the havoc that unfolded in New York City and beyond appeared to highlight the fragility of the region’s transportation system, showing how aging infrastructure has become increasingly unreliable, from the subway to buses to commuters railroads and train and bus stations.
[Read more stories of crowded public transit, downed trees and hours upon hours trapped in their cars.] “The system doesn’t have any slack in a crisis,” said Mitchell L. Moss, the director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University. “We’re not really equipped to handle a breakdown in one part when it has to be absorbed by other parts of the transportation system.”
The havoc that unfolded in the city and beyond highlighted the fragility of the region’s transportation network: An unexpected but not enormous storm brought the system to its knees, leading to countless tales of misery. In the last few years, the region’s aging infrastructure has become increasingly unreliable, from the subway to buses to commuters railroads and train and bus stations. Virtually every mode of transportation is at full capacity and dependent on brittle infrastructure, some of it built more than a century ago. The commuter train and bus networks, held together by crumbling bridges and tunnels, are often just one derailment or pileup away from a breakdown.
On Friday, much of the criticism was aimed at Mr. de Blasio and Philip D. Murphy, the governor of New Jersey. Mr. Murphy joined in the finger-pointing, blaming weather forecasts for underestimating the storm and officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for their handling of huge crowds at the bus terminal in Midtown Manhattan. The storm had a ripple effect across seemingly every means that people rely on to travel. Snow piled up on roads that went unplowed in the city and suburbs. That snarled city buses, which serve more than two million New Yorkers each day.
“Yesterday gave forecasting a bad name,” Mr. Murphy said at a news conference, calling the predictions of the storm’s intensity “lousy.” The road conditions prevented New Jersey Transit buses from reaching the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Commuters abandoned the terminal, turning to trains that were overloaded and delayed. Only the subways operated relatively normally.
Mr. Murphy said that one person had died in an accident when a car got stuck on train tracks. Leaders in New York and New Jersey came under heavy criticism, but insisted that they had been caught off guard by the ferocity of the storm after early forecasts predicted just a dusting.
Mr. de Blasio said a confluence of events — a “perfect storm” as he called it — had conspired to throw off the city’s snow-fighting efforts. The city’s Sanitation Department had performed miracles plowing roads in the past, but they did not have good access to the roads because they were clogged with vehicles. Mayor Bill de Blasio said he understood why people were upset and would review the city’s storm response.
“They can’t levitate above the traffic,” the mayor said. “I am very frustrated with what happened,” Mr. de Blasio said at an afternoon news conference. “I don’t think it’s fair to say that city agencies could have stopped all of this. That’s just too convenient.”
Mr. de Blasio said a confluence of events had conspired to throw off the snow-fighting efforts. The city’s Department of Sanitation had performed miracles plowing roads in the past, but did not have good access to the roads because they were clogged with vehicles, he said.
The plows “can’t levitate above the traffic,” he said earlier in the day.
At Central Park, 6.4 inches of snow were recorded — the biggest one-day November snowfall in 136 years. If the city had known how bad the storm would be, officials could have encouraged people to stay home, Mr. de Blasio said.At Central Park, 6.4 inches of snow were recorded — the biggest one-day November snowfall in 136 years. If the city had known how bad the storm would be, officials could have encouraged people to stay home, Mr. de Blasio said.
Instead, hordes of commuters were stranded as they left work on Thursday night. At the Port Authority Bus Terminal, only about 232 of the 1,429 scheduled buses arrived at the station to pick up passengers — an 84 percent drop, officials said. [Read more stories of crowded public transit, downed trees and hours upon hours of those trapped in their cars.]
The weather improved by Friday morning, but the region was still recovering from the mess that unfolded Thursday evening. There were problems on the subway and commuter railroads, but some of the worst incidents happened on the roads, where cars and buses were stuck in snarled traffic. Philip D. Murphy, the governor of New Jersey, joined in the finger-pointing, blaming weather forecasts for underestimating the storm and officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for their handling of the crowds at the bus terminal in Midtown Manhattan.
“Our buses were held hostage to massive gridlock citywide,” said Jon Weinstein, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city’s subways and buses. “Our bus operators and front-line employees fought through epic traffic and kept the subways moving — and we’re grateful for their dedication during a tremendously difficult commute.” “Yesterday gave forecasting a bad name,” Mr. Murphy said, calling the predictions of the storm’s intensity “lousy.”
On Friday, Kathryn Garcia, the city’s sanitation commissioner, acknowledged that “the commute last night was really pretty atrocious.” Yet Ms. Garcia defended the snow-clearing effort in an interview on Fox 5. Mr. Murphy said one person had died in an accident when a car got stuck on train tracks.
“We were definitely prepared,” she said. “We had all of our spreaders out. They were all pre-positioned ahead of the storm.” Kathryn Garcia, the city’s sanitation commissioner, defended the snow-clearing effort. “Given the forecast, I do think we were adequately prepared,” she said, though she added, “I think there are a lot of lessons that will be learned from this.”
Ms. Garcia said the department had started preparing on Tuesday morning, when the forecast was for light snow, by loading nearly 700 salt spreaders. The greatest challenge came in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, she said, where traffic from the George Washington Bridge snarled streets. Ms. Garcia said the city had deployed its entire fleet of about 700 salt spreaders before the snow grew heavy, but many of them were stuck for hours on highways that feed into the George Washington Bridge — essentially bringing their efforts to a standstill in northern Manhattan and the Bronx.
“In all honesty, I am not sure what we could have done if we had added a tremendous amount of additional pieces of equipment, if they would just have been stuck,” she said. “That has been what I have been thinking about literally all night long.” The bridge, a crucial link in region’s road network, serves about 300,000 vehicles crossing between New York and New Jersey each weekday. During the storm, two major accidents on the upper level shut down traffic in both directions, said Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
On the George Washington Bridge, there were two major accidents because of conditions on the upper level that shutdown traffic in both directions, said Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. An accident in the eastbound lanes around 2:30 p.m. involved more than 20 vehicles. Another in the westbound lanes around 3:20 p.m. involved two tractor-trailers. It took a while to clear the crashes and all of the lanes did not reopen until 6:30 p.m. The lower level was open to traffic. If the Department of Sanitation had known the snow was going to be so heavy, Ms. Garcia said, it would have rolled out an additional 1,600 plows at once. Instead, she added, workers had been scheduled for staggered shifts, so there were only enough people to drive 350 to 700 plows at any one time.
Mr. Cotton defended the agency’s handling of the storm, saying eight trucks started spreading salt on the bridge before 1 p.m. and crews removed the vehicles from the crash as quickly as possible. In the suburbs, travel on major highways also came to a halt, and icy conditions and countless accidents made some side streets impassable.
In New York City, there were more than 22,800 calls to 911 from the afternoon to the evening — a 79 percent increase over the same period last year, said Terence A. Monahan, a top official with the New York Police Department. There were 1,915 calls regarding collisions — a 162 percent increase over that period last year, he said. A Republican lawmaker in New Jersey called for hearings in Trenton, the capitol, on the state’s response to the storm. The lawmaker, Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco, said the resources deployed by the Department of Transportation “did not seem to make much of a difference.”
“I spent four hours driving in the Bronx myself and stopping at intersections, helping to push people out of intersections,” Mr. Monahan said. “The state’s response was miserable,” Mr. Bucco, who represents Morris County, said. “I never saw a single plow.”
In the suburbs, the story was at least as bad with major highways coming to a halt and side streets made impassable by icy conditions and countless accidents. The perilous road conditions crippled commuter bus service, causing the Port Authority, the busiest bus station in the country, to do something it almost never does — close several floors. With some elected officials pointing fingers at the forecast, meteorologists explained that early storms are tricky because small changes in air temperature can make a big difference.
A Republican state lawmaker called for hearings in Trenton on the state’s response to the storm. Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco said that the resources deployed by the Department of Transportation “did not seem to make much of a difference” across the state. On Thursday, colder air near the ground stuck around longer than expected; that meant that more snow ended up sticking on roads.
“The state’s response was miserable, “ said Mr. Bucco, who represents Morris County. “I never saw a single plow.” “Our forecasts have been getting a lot better over the past 10 to 20 years, but early-season snowstorms are still difficult,” said Brian Hurley, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. “When you have an event like this, it’s a reminder we’re still not where we’d like to be all the time.”
In New Jersey, a 61-year-old woman was killed on Thursday evening when a New Jersey Transit train struck her car near the Murray Hill station in New Providence, N.J., according to New Jersey Transit. The victim, Susan Brown of New Providence, was pronounced dead at Morristown Memorial Hospital. The surprising intensity led to widespread stories of people who were stranded. Across the region, students were trapped on school buses snarled in traffic for hours with no bathroom or food, according to parents and elected officials.
There were widespread stories of people who were stranded — from drivers to school children. Across the region, students were trapped on school buses snarled in traffic for hours with no bathroom or food, according to parents and elected officials. A bus carrying preschool students left a Harlem school for children with special needs about 2 p.m. Thursday and still had five students onboard near midnight as it crawled through the Bronx, according to City Councilman Ben Kallos, who helped a mother track down the bus.
A bus carrying preschool students left a Harlem school for children with special needs around 2 p.m. on Thursday and still had five students on board around midnight as it crawled through the Bronx, according to City Councilman Ben Kallos, who helped a mother track down the bus. Police officers were dispatched to escort the bus as it finished dropping off children in the early morning hours. Police officers were dispatched to escort the bus as it finished dropping off children in the early morning.
Jennifer Reynoso’s three-year-old son was on the bus for 10 hours. She was so worried that she got in her car around 6 p.m. to search for the bus. Finally, she caught up to the bus at midnight. Jennifer Reynoso’s 3-year-old son was on the bus for 10 hours. She was so worried that she got in her car about 6 p.m. to search for it. She finally caught up to the bus at midnight.
“It was horrible because I don’t know whether he was O.K.,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”“It was horrible because I don’t know whether he was O.K.,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
Ms. Reynoso said her son was exhausted and upset. He had not eaten since noon and had been in the same diaper all day.Ms. Reynoso said her son was exhausted and upset. He had not eaten since noon and had been in the same diaper all day.
“Parents shouldn’t have to wonder where their children are,” said Mr. Kallos, who himself has a young daughter. “I could never imagine being in that situation.”
In West Orange, N.J., about 80 students who were stranded for hours on school buses sought refuge in the Chit Chat Diner until about midnight, said Leo Novakidis, the manager who was on duty Thursday night.In West Orange, N.J., about 80 students who were stranded for hours on school buses sought refuge in the Chit Chat Diner until about midnight, said Leo Novakidis, the manager who was on duty Thursday night.
The children, who ranged in age from 5 years old to teenagers, lined up for the bathrooms, then devoured chicken fingers and french fries, Mr. Novakidis said. The children, who ranged from 5 years old to teenagers, lined up for the bathrooms, then devoured chicken fingers and french fries, Mr. Novakidis said.
“That stuff is fast to make and they were starving,” he said.“That stuff is fast to make and they were starving,” he said.
Some fell asleep in booths, Mr. Novakidis said, before school officials took them back to a school around midnight to spend the night. Some fell asleep in booths, Mr. Novakidis said, before school officials took them to a school about midnight to spend the night.
Shahabuddeen A. Ally, the chairman of a community board that represents northern Manhattan, said he had never seen a traffic pileup as bad as the one on Thursday night as the neighborhoods were choked with traffic from the George Washington Bridge. Shahabuddeen A. Ally, the chairman of a community board that represents northern Manhattan, said he had never seen traffic pileups as bad as the ones Thursday night.
“It’s not like this was an earthquake that swallowed up half the city or a U.F.O. showed up,” Mr. Ally said. “This was snow and snow was predicted.” “It’s not like this was an earthquake that swallowed up half the city or a U.F.O. showed up,” Mr. Ally said. “This was snow, and snow was predicted.”