Traffic nightmare!

With thousands of visitors flocking to the city’s beaches on Memorial Day, motorists attempting to leave the barrier island through Long Beach Road were stuck in traffic for hours on Monday evening, after a malfunction on the Michael Valente Memorial Long Beach Bridge caused it to jam in the upright position.

Nassau County Police reported at 6:26 p.m. on Monday that the northbound lane of the drawbridge became stuck when a circuit breaker malfunctioned. The delay caused traffic to back up on side streets and as far as Lido Boulevard, and caused a headache for many people trying to make their way home after a day spent at the beach.

Although the bridge is owned and operated by Nassau County, the Long Beach Police Department was flooded with hundreds of calls from desperate motorists and residents.

Sgt. Eric Cregeen, a spokesman for the Police Department, said that shortly after the malfunction, the department was informed by the bridge’s operator that it was experiencing an issue with a circuit breaker and that a mechanic was called in to fix the problem. Motorists, meanwhile, were advised to find alternate routes, either through the Loop Parkway or Atlantic Beach Bridge.

“Due to the heavy traffic volume … we decided to split the southbound lanes into one lane north and one lane south,” Cregeen said, adding that the lane was split about an hour after the malfunction. “It took some of the pressure off and we were able to move some people. With the help of Nassau County and our auxiliary force … they came and assisted us.”

Cregeen said that the bridge was fully reopened at 10:30 p.m., and that no accidents or incidents were reported.

“We had some beach traffic,” he said, “Thank god we were able to get everyone over safely, and we were able to ease the traffic flow without incident.”

The bridge has been plagued by mechanical problems in the past that have resulted in lane closures and have snarled traffic when either the southbound or northbound lanes became stuck in the open position.