Truck crash closes SH1 for day
It took 17 hours but the first vehicles were being allowed to use State Highway 1 between Plimmerton and Paeka¯ ka¯ riki after an all-day closure.
New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) was giving about 400 trucks the chance to use the road just after 9pm, with other motorists following soon after.
Labour Day weekend traffic ground to a halt after a Mainfreight truck, laden with a mix of chemicals, crashed about 3.45am yesterday, forcing traffic into gridlock.
The chemical-laden Mainfreight truck was carrying mainly paint products when it crashed, however the truck’s driver escaped with minor injuries.
The clean-up efforts were complicated by the mixing of several different chemicals, forcing the road to be closed to all traffic.
At 7.15pm, NZTA was still advising drivers to continue using the detour on State Highway 58 between Grays and Paeka¯ ka¯ riki Hill roads while work continued to clear SH1.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said a definitive list of the chemicals had not yet been compiled but there were ‘‘a lot of them’’.
Staff worked to remove the dangerous chemicals from the truckand-trailer unit by hand, which made the clean-up a ‘‘long, slow process’’.
NZTA said because of the nature of the chemicals, clearing the vehicle and lanes was a ‘‘complex operation’’.
A convoy of trucks several kilometres long waited for SH1 to reopen yesterday, just as motorists prepared to exit Wellington for the long weekend.
At one point, both SH1 and State Highway 2 were closed. Light vehicles were able to take the hilly, windy Paeka¯ka¯riki Hill Rd but trucks couldn’t.
NZTA regional transport systems manager Mark Owen said: ‘‘If people are heading out of town, they need to think of an alternative at this stage, and it’s certainly going to take a lot longer if they take an alternative route.’’
Booth’s Transport truck driver Max Wyllie had been stuck in an unmoving line of trucks and buses since about 5.30am, which he said spanned as far back as the Paraparaumu exit, 20 kilometres away.
‘‘There’s may be a dozen refrigerated trucks along the bay here . . . they have their machines going on separate batteries, and can last up to about 10 hours.’’
Wyllie said passengers on the buses that had stopped in traffic
hopped off and walked towards Paeka¯ka¯riki train station after about two hours of going nowhere.
‘‘Most of the drivers who have been here since 4am or 5am have to catch ferries.’’
He said some drivers had been ringing their depot about going over the legal limit of consecutive hours, which is 14 hours, and were told not to log the hours they sit in traffic, meaning some would not get paid for the time they spent stuck there.
A Greater Wellington Regional Council spokesman said a duty officer was on site to assess the environmental impact of the chemical spill but it was not yet known whether the spill will affect waterways.
Heavy vehicles were unable to use SH1 Plimmerton to Paeka¯ ka¯ riki until further notice and were being asked to avoid the area, however light vehicles were still able to access the road.
Meanwhile, the QEII National Trust says it is concerned that the chemical spillage or liquid from cleaning up the spill will flow into the Taupo¯ Swamp.
Nineteen species of birds have been recorded in the wetland, including threatened species such as the bittern, marsh crake, and spotless crake.