Truck fire on M1 causes major traffic delays

Rachel Olding
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All three city-bound lanes on the M1 Pacific Motorway have reopened following a serious truck fire, although traffic remains banked up for 10 kilometres.

The semi-trailer collided with a stone wall and burst into flames near Jolls Bridge, near Mooney Mooney, just after 5.30am on Monday.

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Truck fire on M1 causes major delays

A serious truck fire has closed all citybound lanes on the M1 Pacific Motorway, causing an eight-kilometre traffic jam.Vision: Channel Seven

Several motorists pulled the driver from the burning truck and he has been flown to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition, police said.

Emergency services extinguished the fire within half an hour but the truck blocked all southbound lanes for over two hours.

The truck hit a wall, bursting into flames on the M1 early on Monday. Photo: Sky News

"The truck was not carrying any load at the time but it has created a bit of a mess," a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman said.

All lanes were reopened about 8am. A reduced speed limit of 80km/h has been implemented because the fire has damaged the road.

There is still a 10 kilometre queue approaching the incident site, the Transport Management Centre said.

The truck initially blocked all southbound lanes, with motorists diverted off the M1 at Mount White onto the Pacific Highway.

City-bound traffic was queued up for kilometres on the M1 after the truck fire on Monday morning. Photo: livetraffic.com.au

By 7.45am, two of three southbound lanes were open, but traffic remained heavy. One northbound lane was also closed.

"Anyone travelling between the Central Coast and Sydney should consider catching a train ... as a time-saving measure," Transport Management Centre spokesman David Wright said.

Traffic chaos on the M1 at Jolls Bridge just past Mooney Mooney, after a truck crashed into a stone wall and exploded #TenNews pic.twitter.com/kR6MMlLryT
— Hannah Maguire (@HannahMaguire1) November 20, 2016

M1, Mooney Mooney, truck smash southbound, extensive delays #CentralCoast #SydneyTraffic @GettrafficNSW @TheTodayShow pic.twitter.com/eS3aV8psfR
— Erin Ramsay (@eeRamsay) November 20, 2016

Northbound lanes on the M1 Pacific Motorway are open.