The driver of an overheight truck that slammed into the University Avenue overpass, shutting the M1 Princes Motorway for 14 hours, has been fined more than $3600 and stripped of six demerit points.
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The southbound truck struck the bridge about 12.15pm on Tuesday, closing the motorway in both directions and causing traffic chaos as detours were put in place.
A salvage operation to remove the truck’s stuck trailer and cargo ended about 10pm.
However, northbound lanes of the M1 didn’t reopen until 11.15pm. The southbound diversions, via the University Avenue off and on-ramps, were lifted at 2.40am on Wednesday.
The driver has been slapped with a $2319 fine and stripped of six demerit points for disobeying the overpass’ low clearance sign.
He was also fined $661 for operating in the wrong area and $661 for not keeping a work diary as required.
“Heavy vehicle operators have an obligation to know the combined height of their vehicle and its load before driving, and approved routes,” a Roads and Maritime Services spokesman said.
“Given the damage to infrastructure, Roads and Maritime will review this incident and consider suspending the vehicle’s registration for up to three months.”
The spokesman said the truck caused minor damage to a girder under the bridge.
“The damage most visible to motorists is not impacting on the structural integrity of the bridge and repairs to the bridge will be carried out as soon as possible,” he said.
A number of warning signs – which start about two kilometres prior to the bridge – were in place to ensure heavy vehicle operators had sufficient notice of the height restriction, the spokesman said.
How the stuck truck was shifted
Meanwhile, a Wollongong crane supervisor has told of the complex operation to shift the truck’s stuck load.
Manny Paniagua, from Unanderra-based WGC Cranes, oversaw the “quite complicated”, hours-long salvage effort.
Mr Paniagua said the truck was carrying two pieces of ship-loading equipment known as a “grab”, each weighing about 10-11 tonnes.
When the truck hit the low side of the bridge, which has a clearance of 4.6 metres, the front piece of equipment toppled onto another at the rear of the trailer.
The front “grab” ended up embedded into the underside of the bridge.
“It had cracked through the concrete and it was reaching inside the concrete between the beams,” he said.
Mr Paniagua said crews in two cranes dragged the rear piece of equipment off the trailer.
However, removing the other, jammed “grab” required more effort, including deflating the trailer’s tyres to their rims.
“We held onto the heavy side [of the grab] that was overhanging in mid-air and then, when we lifted it up, we were able to get a clearance on top of where it was stuck of about 20 or 30 millimetres,” he said.
“We dragged the trailer, with the crane holding the top of it ... out from under the bridge going towards Figtree.”
Mr Paniagua said the pieces of equipment were moved “very slowly” amid concerns they could spin around or get “jagged” on the truck and topple one of the two cranes.
The driver of the truck has told police he was travelling south in the left-hand lane and was trying to merge into the right lane, which has a slightly-higher clearance, before striking the bridge.
It’s unclear if the outcome would have been different, had the truck passed under the bridge in the right lane.
In 2015, Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) spent almost half a million dollars on measures to stop trucks damaging the bridge, including a height detection system to stop heavy vehicles with insufficient clearance from passing underneath.
The system uses a laser to measure the height of southbound vehicles on the motorway. When an oversize vehicle has been detected, an electronic message sign conveys that information to the driver.
The Mercury asked the RMS if the truck involved in Tuesday’s incident triggered the warning system, and whether the driver was alerted on approach to the overpass. However, both questions went unanswered.