5.30pm: Traffic is moving again on Crooked River Road between Gerroa and Gerringong after an earlier car crash.

The following locations continue to experience delays due to heavy holiday traffic:

Motorists should allow plenty of additional travel time and expect lengthy delays.

4.15pm: Traffic is blocked in both directions on Crooked River Road between Gerroa and Gerringong after a car left the road and crashed into a tree about 4pm.

Police, fire and ambulance crews are now at the scene.

The driver is believed to be out of the vehicle and not seriously injured.

Motorists are urged to avoid the area.

At 4pm the following locations continue to experience delays due to heavy holiday traffic:

3pm: The following locations continue to experience delays due to heavy holiday traffic ...

1.20pm: Motorists travelling south continue to experience significant delays at various locations this afternoon due to heavy holiday traffic.

Boxing Day: As traditional as prawns for Christmas lunch and the Melbourne Test cricket match on TV, the annual Boxing Day holiday traffic banked up early through Illawarra hot spots.

Southbound traffic was heavy along the Princes Motorway approaching both Albion Park Rail and Berry, with queues of eight kilometres adding up to 35 minutes to travel times through both townships.

Several kilometres of traffic had already backed up at Albion Park by 10.15am. Perhaps Sydneysiders escaping down the coast for the weekend, or eager shoppers seeking Boxing Day bargains at Stockland Shellharbour – either way, traffic crawled past the airport.

Holidaymakers through Berry also hit serious congestion. From 10am, right through to the early evening, traffic was backed up as far as the eye could see.

Heavy holiday traffic on South Coast roads is expected again tomorrow, with motorists urged to expect delays and allow plenty of additional travel time.

However, motorists in the north were not spared trouble, with a tree down along Lawrence Hargrave Drive near Stanwell Park closing the road as emergency crews worked to remove the blockage.

The only surprising part of Boxing Day traffic was at Kiama, with no serious congestion reported through the notorious bends or the township itself – a development Kiama MP Gareth Ward cheerfully pointed out to the Mercury.

The speed limit through the bends and on to Gerringong was lifted to 80km/h for the festive season, to help ease traffic woes. The speed limit will return to 60km/h on January 5.

Mr Ward also said the opening of southbound lanes on the upgraded highway would keep Kiama snarl-free over the holidays.