Holidaymakers returning from the Sunshine Coast faced a nightmare journey back towards Brisbane on Sunday afternoon, after a single-vehicle crash.
A four-wheel-drive towing a trailer hit a tree about midday on the Bruce Highway near Elimbah, with paramedics taking an elderly woman with a back injury to Caboolture Hospital in a stable condition.
Australian Traffic Network reporter Olympia Kwitowski said southbound delays stretched back more than 25 kilometres along the Bruce Highway just after 3pm, between the Bribie Island Road and Roys Road exits.
Ms Kwitowski added that it would normally take drivers about 15 minutes to travel through the stretch of highway that had been transformed into a carpark but on Sunday afternoon it took about an hour.
To make matters worse, hundreds more drivers would be joining the traffic jam, as the Abbey Medieval Festival in Caboolture came to a close at 5pm.
#qldtraffic AVOID Bruce Hwy, Southbound, nr Elimbah. Crash 3km N of Pumicestone Rd exit. One lane blocked & traffic extremely congested
— Queensland Police (@QPSmedia) July 9, 2017
The crash was cleared about 1pm after blocking one lane, but the residual delays remained, with Ms Kwitowski saying drivers were "going nowhere fast".