A truck and trailer unit carrying ammonium nitrate got into difficulty on Cove Rd with the trailer rolling of the road. Photo/John Stone
A truck and trailer unit carrying ammonium nitrate got into difficulty on Cove Rd with the trailer rolling of the road. Photo/John Stone
Emergency services in Northland were kept busy yesterdaywith three truck crashes in five hours which started when a refrigerator truck flipped and blocked State Highway 1, just south of the Brynderwyns between Baldrock Rd and SH12, about 4am.
Two more trucks - a stock truck and one carrying hazardous materials - crashed on detour routes set up following the Brynderwyns crash.
Ken Shirley, Road Transport Forum chief executive, said these crashes highlighted the need for more investment on Northland roads, particularly with the expanding freight task in Northland.
"There has been significant improvement in the arterial routes but when you have something like this and diversions, some of those secondary routes are certainly not fit for heavy combination vehicles."
Sergeant Phil Halton, from the police Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit, said the refrigerator truck was heading north when it went off the road and into a drain and flipped as the driver tried to correct the truck.
A tow truck ready to remove the refrigerated trailer unit of a truck which crashed on SH1 north of Kaiwaka yesterday. Photo/John Stone
Initially traffic was directed through Mountain Rd and two vehicles which took this route - a ute and a stock truck carrying cattle - crashed.
The detour was later closed.
Kaiwaka Fire Brigade chief fire officer, John Bowmar, said after attending the ute crash on Mountain Rd about 6am the brigade went to another crash further along the road where a fully-loaded truck carrying cattle crashed and was on a lean.
Mr Bowmar said another stock truck went to the scene to reload the cattle and a tow truck, which had been to the refridgerator truck crash, lifted the truck onto the road.
The brigade was then called to Cove Rd in Mangawhai just after 9am after a truck carrying ammonium nitrate crashed.
Mr Halton said a truck and trailer unit was travelling south around a tight corner and the hazardous materials truck, which was headed to Hikurangi, pulled as far right as it could which caused the trailer to go off the side of the bank.
The road had to be cordoned off and fire crews from Kaiwaka, Waipu, Mangawhai, Whangarei and a water tanker from the refinery were at the scene.
"The hazmat unit is out here and we have water tankers and set up just in case anything sparks but they were quite confident it wouldn't. It's been a bit of a run of it," he said.
A former Northland resident heading to Whangarei from Auckland said a two hour journey took three and a half hours.
Mr Shirley said there needed to be more investment in Northland's alternative roads.
"There'll always be areas that need more investment that's the nature of roading. It's then a question of priorities."
Mr Shirley said there was a lot of pressure on drivers to get to their destinations.
"So many trips are sort of just in time. A lot of hazardous materials have to be in a certain place at a certain time and stoppages are very disruptive.
