By Alexander Darling
Two outbound lanes of the Monash Freeway have been reopened after a crash in which a truck brought down a light pole on Wednesday afternoon.
Delays of more than an hour remain on the freeway, and three lanes are still closed at the crash site before Forster Road.
Motorists were warned of delays of two hours as traffic banked up as far as the Burnley Tunnel.Credit: Nine News
Police say the driver is in a critical condition in hospital after crashing into a centre median strip of the freeway near Huntingdale Road in Mount Waverley about 2.20pm.
The Transport Department said congestion, which stretches back to the Burnely Tunnel, would take some time to ease.
Earlier, Transport Victoria’s Dan Belling told radio station 3AW the B-double truck hit a number of cars and ruptured its fuel tank after hitting the light pole.
“We’ve got a light pole down across three lanes, and there are hundreds of litres of fuel that has leaked across four of the five lanes,” Belling said.
All outbound lanes on the Monash Freeway were closed after the truck crash.Credit: Nine News
“If you’re leaving the city this afternoon, don’t even consider the Monash Freeway. Our data is even showing extra traffic on the Eastern Freeway, so some drivers are even taking that route to get around this closure.”
Fire Rescue Victoria is cleaning up the fuel spilled on the road.
The driver is recovering in The Alfred hospital.
Fire Rescue Victoria officers are cleaning up fuel that was spilled on the freeway. Credit: Nine News
One motorist, Mark, said he had entered Burnley Tunnel at 4pm, and exited at Burke Road about 5.10pm.
He said there were no announcements about the closure on overhead signs until the Toorak Road interchange.
“People [are] getting onto the Monash at Burke Road, High Street and Toorak Road. Why are police not stopping people from getting on? They are going to be spending an hour to get off now, all because police won’t put cars across the on-ramps,” he told 3AW.
“It would have been 200 cars on the on-ramp to Burke Road. Drive safely and be nice to one another, everyone’s frustrated.”
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