A lane of traffic may run straight, but the lines connecting the players in the George Washington Bridge lane closing scandal are more of a Spaghetti Junction.

The closings in September 2013 led to questions about the hardball culture of Gov. Chris Christie’s staff as he sought to turn a re-election victory into an argument that he was the Republican Party’s best hope for president in 2016.

They also pried open the lid of the normally opaque Port Authority, exposing other questions for investigators: about conflicts of interest by the authority’s chairman; accusations that storm aid was used as leverage in a development deal; and of whether the New Jersey governor’s office used the authority as a piggy bank to fill holes in the state budget.