Latest news with #trafficchaos
News.com.au
2 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Chaos on Sydney M5 Motorway shut after crane crashes on its side
A major Sydney motorway was closed in both directions after a crane rolled over on Tuesday morning, sending the roads into chaos and leaving one man in hospital. Both lanes on the M5 Motorway East Tunnel have been closed after a crane rolled on its side about 11.30am on Tuesday. Motorists were told avoid the area as lanes were shut in both directions. The mortorway was closed citybound and westbound directions from General Holmes Dr, while citybound lanes remain closed from Bexley Rd. 'Citybound motorists are being diverted onto King Georges Rd off-ramp to use D5 detour,' a Live Traffic NSW post read. The Marsh St westbound on-ramp to the M5 has also been closed, as has the citybound on-ramp to the M5 from Kingsgrove Rd. 'Westbound lanes of the motorway are closed from General Holmes Drive, while citybound lanes remain closed from Bexley Road,' the LiveTraffic NSW update read. A Transport NSW spokesman told NewsWire emergency services and crews were on site. 'Motorists are advised to avoid the area and can consider using the D5 detour instead in both directions,' they said. 'Due to the nature of the incident, there is no forecast as to when all lanes will reopen.' An Ambulance NSW spokesperson told NewsWire a man in his 20s was treated at the scene and transported to St George Hospital in a stable condition.
Fox News
3 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Escaped zebra caught on camera running along busy Tennessee roadway as chaos forces lane closures
A zebra remains on the loose after the animal escaped from its owners in Tennessee over the weekend, authorities said. The owners "obtained" the zebra on Friday night and reported it missing on Saturday, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said. However, the distinct black-and-white-striped animal escaped into a wooded area off Interstate 24, where it was "wreaking havoc," between Joe B. Jackson Parkway and the Epps Mill Road exits on Saturday afternoon, the sheriff's office said. Deputy Ryan Keach located the zebra near the interstate and shut down one lane of traffic for travelers' safety, the sheriff's office told Fox News Digital. "After the zebra crossed the interstate, deputies closed both the eastbound lanes toward Chattanooga and the westbound lanes toward Nashville," the agency said. At the time, the zebra caused chaos on the freeway because it was running through traffic on both sides of the highway, authorities said. The sheriff's office didn't say how or where the owners got the zebra, or where it was being housed at the time of its escape.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Driver jailed for A1 crash that wrecked five police cars
A personal trainer who was on a first date when he caused a 'catastrophic collision' on the A1 that wrecked five police cars has been jailed for 14 months. A judge at Newcastle crown court on Monday told Mazyar Azarbonyad, 20, it was 'nothing short of a miracle that no one was more seriously injured or that there were not multiple fatalities' in the incident that led to seven officers needing hospital treatment and caused traffic chaos across the north-east of England. The court heard that Azarbonyad failed to stop when pursued by police and at one point reached a speed of more than 120mph in his BMW X5. Courtney Redfern, who was being driven home by Azarbonyad after a date, told him several times to stop, according to Jolyon Perks, prosecuting. The barrister added: 'In her opinion, she thought he could have killed someone.' At an earlier hearing, Azarbonyad pleaded guilty to dangerous driving over the crash on the A1 near Denton Burn, Newcastle, in the early hours of 9 April. One police officer suffered soft tissue damage to her knee and nerve damage to her back, requiring her to remain in hospital for three days. Another needed stitches for a cut to his forehead. Dramatic pictures the following day showed wrecked police cars on one of the busiest stretches of road in the north east. Judge Tim Gittins said: 'It led to regional traffic chaos, misery for many travellers, not to mention the substantial loss of work and study hours for those that were caught up in the aftermath of what you caused.' Police wanted to stop Azarbonyad because he was driving over the speed limit and had defective rear lights. The court heard he had bought the vehicle on finance despite having a provisional driving licence, no insurance and later admitting to officers he had paid for only three driving lessons. The judge said: 'You should have been nowhere near the driving seat of any vehicle that night, let alone one such as a BMW X5, a large and powerful SUV.' Azarbonyad initially pulled over for police but when an officer approached his car on foot he said 'nah' and made off at speed, according to his passenger. When Azarbonyad was interviewed he described his driving as 'shit', but did not accept he braked harshly and said the police chasing him were travelling too fast, Perks told the court. In the days that followed his release on bail he continued to drive to the gym where he worked before he was arrested at a petrol station. Supt Billy Mulligan, of Northumbria police, said four of the seven officers who were injured in the crash remained off work. He added: 'It is sheer luck that Mazyar Azarbonyad did not kill anyone that day with his reckless actions.' The court heard that the defendant arrived in the UK after fleeing his home country Iran when he was 14 and settled in Stanley, County Durham.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
'26 hours to get home': Floods close a 20-kilometre stretch of NSW Pacific Highway
By Toby Hemmings and Claire Simmonds , ABC Floodwaters inundating the northern NSW city of Lismore. Photo: AFP PHOTO / NEW SOUTH WALES STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE Record-breaking flooding created unprecedented traffic chaos on New South Wales roads last week, costing tens of millions of dollars and casting a cloud of uncertainty over the road's flood resilience . Most notably, flooding closed a 20-kilometre stretch of the Pacific Highway dual carriageway between Coopernook and South Taree for almost five days. Michael Atkinson was one of the motorists frustrated on Wednesday when he was returning home from Maclean in the Clarence Valley. The trip, which normally takes about five hours, took five times that long. "I found out there was a road closure when I got within 10 kilometres of Taree," he said. "I live in Nelson Bay. It took me 26 hours to get home, driving north, camping in Glen Innes, and then driving all the way inland and up through the Hunter Valley." According to estimates from MidCoast Council, the financial cost of the Pacific Highway closure was about $29 million, due to diverted traffic and supply routes. But drivers have told the ABC the impact of the road closures was exacerbated by incorrect and unclear information about what roads were closed and what alternative routes were available. Stretch of Pacific Highway flooded for five days. Photo: Supplied/ABC News After nearly 30 years of dual carriageway upgrades, the Pacific Highway between Hexham and the Queensland border acts as a major supply route for the entire north coast of NSW. More than 26,000 vehicles use the Pacific Highway near Taree every day, according to Transport for NSW data, with 80 percent cars and 20 percent trucks. A 2020 floodplain risk management study, commissioned by MidCoast Council, estimated the cost of closing the Pacific Highway near Taree for just a day would be up to $5.79 million. The study also looked at raising the section of Pacific Highway that crossed the Manning River as an option to improve flood resilience. It estimated the upgrade would cost about $134 million, and was not financially viable. Executive director of operations management with Transport for NSW Craig Mason said flood resiliency was something the organisation would look at across the network. "Stopping the impacts in the future will require a lot of work and expense," Mason said. "But we're always looking at how we can make the network more resilient and diversions more efficient. "With the water levels, particularly through Taree being the highest ever, it's quite difficult to try and build networks that can avoid floods in any circumstance." Multiple drivers told the ABC issues with the Pacific Highway closure were exacerbated by inconsistent information from navigation apps and LiveTraffic, Transport for NSW's real-time information provider. LiveTraffic is fed real-time information by road crews dispatched from the Transport Management Centre and emergency services. A forward command centre was set up in Newcastle during the flood emergency. But navigation apps were often unclear about which routes were open or closed, leading to people becoming stranded in flood-affected areas. Over two days, about 20 people arrived in the remote valley community of Killabakh, north-west of Taree, after misdirection by navigational aids. Killabakh Rural Fire Service senior deputy captain Greg Hale and his team, on stand-by for flood rescues, met the new refugees to the valley. "Most of them consulted LiveTraffic, which is what you're told to do in emergency situations," Hale said. "And they were then advised they could come over Comboyne Mountain into Killabakh to get further south in their travels, but Killabakh itself was flooded in. "The information that was available to them about the way they could get to their destination sent them over the mountain and was certainly inappropriate." The Rural Fire Service crew enacted the local emergency management plan and opened the community hall as a shelter for those stranded for the night, which quickly turned into two nights. Jenny Aitchison speaking in Kempsey about the road network. Photo: Supplied/ABC News Speaking in Kempsey on Monday, Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said people needed to be mindful when driving in such challenging conditions. "LiveTraffic doesn't tell anyone to go anywhere," Aitchison said. "Everyone's doing their best but it's a difficult situation because no matter what somebody saw 10 minutes before they went in to update LiveTraffic, it can change in an instant. "It's a challenging situation and I'll be looking at what we can do better next time." - ABC
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Record-breaking floods that closed Pacific Highway test road resilience
Record-breaking flooding created unprecedented traffic chaos on New South Wales roads last week, costing tens of millions of dollars and casting a cloud of uncertainty over the road's flood resilience. Most notably, flooding closed a 20-kilometre stretch of the Pacific Highway dual carriageway between Coopernook and South Taree for almost five days. Michael Atkinson was one of the motorists frustrated on Wednesday when he was returning home from Maclean in the Clarence Valley. The trip, which normally takes about five hours, took five times that long. "I found out there was a road closure when I got within 10 kilometres of Taree," he said. According to estimates from MidCoast Council, the financial cost of the Pacific Highway closure was about $29 million, due to diverted traffic and supply routes. But drivers have told the ABC the impact of the road closures was exacerbated by incorrect and unclear information about what roads were closed and what alternative routes were available. After nearly 30 years of dual carriageway upgrades, the Pacific Highway between Hexham and the Queensland border acts as a major supply route for the entire north coast of NSW. More than 26,000 vehicles use the Pacific Highway near Taree every day, according to Transport for NSW data, with 80 per cent cars and 20 per cent trucks. A 2020 floodplain risk management study, commissioned by MidCoast Council, estimated the cost of closing the Pacific Highway near Taree for just a day would be up to $5.79 million. The study also looked at raising the section of Pacific Highway that crossed the Manning River as an option to improve flood resilience. It estimated the upgrade would cost about $134 million, and was not financially viable. Craig Mason, the executive director of operations management with Transport for NSW, said flood resiliency was something the organisation would look at across the network. "Stopping the impacts in the future will require a lot of work and expense," Mr Mason said. "But we're always looking at how we can make the network more resilient and diversions more efficient. Multiple drivers told the ABC issues with the Pacific Highway closure were exacerbated by inconsistent information from navigation apps and LiveTraffic, Transport for NSW's real-time information provider. LiveTraffic is fed real-time information by road crews dispatched from the Transport Management Centre and emergency services. A forward command centre was set up in Newcastle during the flood emergency. But navigation apps were often unclear about which routes were open or closed, leading to people becoming stranded in flood-affected areas. Over two days, about 20 people arrived in the remote valley community of Killabakh, north-west of Taree, after misdirection by navigational aids. Killabakh Rural Fire Service senior deputy captain Greg Hale and his team, on stand-by for flood rescues, met the new refugees to the valley. "Most of them consulted LiveTraffic, which is what you're told to do in emergency situations," Mr Hale said. "And they were then advised they could come over Comboyne Mountain into Killabakh to get further south in their travels, but Killabakh itself was flooded in. The Rural Fire Service crew enacted the local emergency management plan and opened the community hall as a shelter for those stranded for the night, which quickly turned into two nights. Speaking in Kempsey on Monday, Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said people needed to be mindful when driving in such challenging conditions. "LiveTraffic doesn't tell anyone to go anywhere," Ms Aitchison said. "Everyone's doing their best but it's a difficult situation because no matter what somebody saw 10 minutes before they went in to update LiveTraffic, it can change in an instant. "It's a challenging situation and I'll be looking at what we can do better next time."
