Too-tall truck jams Holland Tunnel entry Morning rush-hour traffic at the Holland Tunnel and on adjacent Jersey City side streets was backed up and delayed for more than an hour yesterday when a tractor-trailer truck got stuck in the Manhattan-bound entrance of the tube, according to Steve Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The truck was stuck at 5:56 a.m. after the driver-in-training, Charles Edward Conyers, of Paragould, Ark., drove through an E-ZPass toll booth and set off warning sirens and flashing red lights when the rig hit a concrete bar hanging at the 12-foot-6-inch maximum height allowed for trucks, Coleman said.
"Conyers ignored the lights and siren and tried to drive through," Coleman said.
Port Authority workers released the air from all of the truck tires and towed the vehicle out of the tunnel entrance at 7:25 a.m. Despite attempts to divert traffic with signs about the delays, residual delays of 30-40 minutes to the tunnel continued the rest of the morning, Coleman said.
"The driver told police he was lost and confused and he was supposed to be heading for Route 287," Coleman said. "Conyers' driving instructor was sleeping in the back of the truck cab at the time the truck got stuck."
Conyers was given summonses for an over-height vehicle into the tunnel, disregarding a red traffic light and careless driving, Coleman said.
No structural damage to the tunnel was reported, he said.
The owner of the truck, MDR Cartage Co. of Memphis, Tenn., could be reached for comment.