NEW YORK -- Three men climbed the top of the Williamsburg Bridge on Friday morning after a night of bar-hopping on the Lower East Side, police said.

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Suspicious Activity Shuts Bridge

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The drunken antic shut the bridge for more than two hours, snarling traffic and spawning unsubstantiated -- and inaccurate -- reports that the men had left suspicious packages on the bridge before rappelling off it.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the situation showed that the city's heightened state of alert to potential terrorist attacks was working.

"In the end, we did what we were supposed to do," Bloomberg said. "Operation Atlas has been implemented. It works. We are on top of things. It's also true you shouldn't be going on the Williamsburg Bridge, breaking into some place you shouldn't be, and drinking. How stupid can you be?"

The three men -- identified as John Izzi, 26, of Brooklyn; Tekomah Goggins, 29, of West Tisberry, Ma.; and Joshua Ferranto, 29, of Boston -- spent the night at three Lower East Side bars and one after-hours club before climbing to the top of the bridge, coming down and startling bridge workers, who called authorities, police said.

Police initially said the men scaled a suspension cable to the top of a bridge tower but said later in the day that the men had apparently climbed entirely through the tower.

The three are charged with reckless endangerment, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. In addition, Goggins is charged with resisting arrest.

Police shut down the bridge and slowed traffic on nearby spans as they searched for suspicious objects.

"These three guys are in trouble and they certainly inconvenienced a lot of people," Bloomberg said.

The bridge, which connects Manhattan and Brooklyn, was closed in both directions after 8 a.m., backing up traffic on both sides. It was reopened at about 10:30 a.m.