Missing steel plate linked to Tullamarine Freeway sign fall

A missing steel plate has been identified as the cause of a Tullamarine Freeway sign falling and crushing a moving car earlier this month.

A missing steel plate has been identified as the cause of a Tullamarine Freeway sign falling and crushing a moving car earlier this month.

The plate was left out during construction of the overhead sign. Two other signs were later found to have the same fault.

Authorities have removed those two signs after a preliminary report from Transurban into the January 8 incident, in which a driver was injured, found all three gantries were missing the key component.

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Dashcam footage showing the sign after it fell on the Tullamarine Freeway. Picture: Nine News

The signs did not appear to have deteriorated but were taken down as a precaution.

Design guidelines for the three overhead gantries, built during the CityLink Tulla Widening Project, specified they must be installed with a steel plate inside to strengthen the metal’s connection to the sign.

But none of the gantries were built with this vital part inside and engineers believe the Tullamarine sign failed at the point where it was meant to be installed.

The parts, known as stiffener plates, were supposed to be built inside the gantry and VicRoads staff would not have been able to see they were missing during drive-by inspections.

An independent review into the collapse will decide whether Transurban or the contractor will face fines over the failure.

Engineers will investigate what other factors might have contributed to the collapse before making a final statement on the cause.