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The crash occurred when the first driver, 46, of Levittown, PA, stopped his flatbed on the bridge and the second, 57, of Fresno, TX, slammed his Rite Aid rig into it from behind around 3:30 a.m., the authority's Joseph Pentangelo said.
The first driver received a summons for stopping and the second for imprudent speed, Pentangelo said.
Both were taken to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center with non-critical injuries, he said.
A fuel spill had to be cleaned, the scene cleared and the incident investigated, closing the New Jersey-bound upper level for several hours, Pentangelo said.
Rubber-neckers, meanwhile, backed up traffic on the eastbound side, he said.
Commercial traffic was re-routed toward the Hudson River tunnels -- which only added to the morning woes.
Around 7:40 a.m., a 2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse going west on Route 495 in Weehawken veered into the eastbound lane, where it struck the front of an MTA bus apparently headed for the Lincoln Tunnel, Pentangelo said.
Port Authority police issued several summonses to the Mitsubishi driver, a 24-year-old man from Newark, he said. He and two others in the car, including an infant, were hospitalized with non-critical injuries, Pentangelo said.The bus passengers refused medical attention.
The express bus lane was closed until 8:25 a.m so the crash scene could be cleared.
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