Highway crashes slow morning commute

Traffic has eased on the Bruce Highway north of Brisbane as road repair works progress at the scene of a serious crash that caused delays for most of the day.

The truck rollover at Landsborough. Picture: Bruce Long

UPDATE: Traffic has eased on the Bruce Highway as road repair works progress at the scene of a serious crash at Bells Creek.

Sunshine Coast police southern patrol group officer Inspector John Van Egmond said the scene northbound traffic had been open to one lane since about midday.

Inspector Van Egmond said Transport and Main Roads crews were resurfacing a section of the road that was damaged by solvents spilled from the truck.

He said he was unsure when the works would be complete.

EARLIER: “Nightmare” traffic is expected on the Bruce Highway for the remainder of the day as major damage from a truck crash is repaired.

Motorists report they have been caught in northbound congestion with vehicles backed up for kilometres from the Bells Creek crash site more than 10 hours after the incident.

Anyone seeking to avoid the traffic by taking to the train to or from the Sunshine Coast are in for a torrid time after severe storms brought a tree down onto powerlines, causing the suspension of services on six lines and leading to delays of up to an hour.

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A Queensland Police Service spokesman said one southbound lane was moving slowly as of about 11.15am, but police officers remained on scene to lower the speed limit.

A passing motorist shared photos of the truck wreckage on the Bruce Hwy, Bells Creek. Picture: Matt Cook

The Department of Transport and Main Roads workers are on scene attempting to fix the damage, which could take all day according to police.

“It’s going to be a nightmare getting through there any stage today,” the police spokesman said.

One traveller reported they had missed a friend’s funeral as they had been stuck for more than two hours as of 10.15am.

“Left the Gold Coast for 9am service, still another hour away at least and can’t turn around,” they commented on an earlier update.

Another person reported it had taken more than two hours to travel from Caboolture to Roy’s Rd.

The truck flipped in northbound lanes at Bells Creek, just before the Caloundra exit, about 1am.

Police believed the truck entered the median strip before flipping.

A second vehicle then crashed into the truck. Both drivers were taken to hospital.

It’s believed the truck driver, a man in his 50s, was trapped in the vehicle for a period of time and suffered serious leg injuries, a suspected pelvic injury and was transported stable with a critical care paramedic escort.

The wreckage laid across both northbound lanes and the median strip.

The driver of the car, a man in his 30s, sustained abdominal injuries and was taken to hospital in a stable condition.

The wreckage was still at the scene for several hours and was blocking northbound lanes, with debris also across the centre strip.

Police said the highway was expected to remain closed until about 9am but later extended that to 10.15am. There were still heavy delays northbound at 11.45am.

Northbound traffic was heavy around Beerwah on the highway and through Beerwah and the Glass House Mountains as drivers sought alternative routes. Motorists are being diverted to Roys Rd and Steve Irwin Way.

The truck rollover blocked all northbound lanes at Landsborough. Picture: Bruce Long

Southbound lanes of the highway in the area were also seeing delays earlier but they had cleared by about 6.30am.

There were also delays on the Pacific Motorway on the Gold Coast this morning after a suspected stolen vehicle crashed into another car at Pimpama.

Three southbound lanes were closed and drivers told to avoid the area.

The wreckage of a B-double and car crash heading northbound on the Bruce Hwy, near the Caloundra exit in Landsborough. Picture: Win News