UPDATED 8.47PM: State Highway 35, between Tauranga and Rotorua, is now open after a logging truck rolled earlier today.
The highway was closed around 4.50pm to allow for a crane to be brought in and remove the truck and its logs from the road.
The NZ Transport Agency says the highway is now open for traffic travelling in both directions.
Police are investigating the cause of the crash.
No one was reported to be injured.
EARLIER:
The highway is currently down to one lane between Taumata and Oropi roads.
Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion says once all the equipment is on scene to remove the truck and logs, the road will be closed.
He could not say when the road closure was likely to happen.
When the road closes, Tauranga-bound traffic will be diverted down Oropi Road, while Rotorua-bound traffic will be diverted down Taumata Road.
EARLIER:
State Highway 36, between Tauranga and Rotorua, is believed to be blocked after a logging truck has rolled.
Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion says the crash is between Taumata and Oropi roads.
"I believe the road is blocked by logs and am yet to work out diversions."
Ian says there are no reports of injuries.
Motorists are being advised to expect delays or avoid travelling in the area.
SunLive will bring you more updates soon.
At the scene?
Call 0800 SUNLIVE or email photos to newsroom@thesun.co.nz
11 comments
Let's guess
Posted on 16-01-2017 15:12 | By The Sage
Going too fast or driver inattention. Too much of this going on around here.
No
Posted on 16-01-2017 16:27 | By Politically Incorrect
I think he was swerving to avoid the old man stood in the middle of the road.
Who Knows?
Posted on 16-01-2017 19:47 | By Kenworthlogger
He may of moved over to let a car past and got a tyre on the edge and tipped the trailer over?
The Sage has it right !
Posted on 16-01-2017 21:49 | By The Caveman
Going too fast or driver inattention. Add to that the possibility of insecure load - but I doubt it - going too fast, so that that extra load can be made on the day. Just lucky it did not land on a car !!!!
Yikes!!
Posted on 17-01-2017 00:28 | By GreertonBoy
So lucky no one was hurt.... that could have ended badly if someone was under that lot... whew!!
Ban trucks
Posted on 17-01-2017 05:32 | By clingon
In fact both rotorua & tauranga bound traffic was diverted along Tamara rd, a narrow winding metal road putting inexperienced motorists at danger of collisions- ban trucks from using SH 36 & give cars a decent use of this road,it has no passing lanes & was not designed for trucks...
Clingon
Posted on 17-01-2017 08:58 | By Kenworthlogger
If inexperienced motorists are at danger of having a collision then clearly there are a lot of car drivers that should not be on the road. Your comment about roads not being designed for trucks is total crap. They build roads for all road users not just cars. Cars cause far more accidents on the roads than trucks do so banning cars would be a much better course of action.
Sorry kenworthblogger
Posted on 17-01-2017 10:37 | By clingon
I omitted to say "drivers inexperienced with metaled narrow winding roads"-I.e. tourists who may have never driven on such roads, Rotovegas is full of them, and the logs were still on the side of the road this morning so why close the road in peak traffic times last night? And have a look at the rotorua side of the gorge & then try to convince anyone that this road was designed for trucks- that hill climb has hardly changed since it was a metal goat track used by service cars long before kenworths were on the roads...
All guessing.....
Posted on 17-01-2017 10:54 | By waiknot
Lots of guessing here stated as fact.
OMG clingon
Posted on 17-01-2017 13:06 | By Kenworthlogger
Any driver who is licensed to drive on the road in NZ shpuld be able to drive on all roads which yes include metal ones. One just needs to drive to the conditions. Mate the Rotorua side of the gorge is a piece of cake for any logging truck. I have driven it many times in the logger and there is nothing wrong with it. It even has pull over lanes for heavy vehicles so the impatient cars can get passed so CLEARLY it was designed for this purpose. If you think the gorge is a mission you should see what we drive on in the forests lol. How do you think logs have been pulled out the forest for the last 100 years up these roads? By hand?
What tosh Clingon
Posted on 18-01-2017 17:19 | By maildrop
Most tourists come from countries where the road toll is lower than here, therefore they are better drivers. The road stats here also prove this as tourists are not disproportionately represented in crashes in NZ. Most roads around the world are very similar to here, in fact in my experience, which is extensive, the roads here are very good quality. Yes, other countries have motorways but motorway travel accounts for very little of total road use. So what is it that makes NZ roads so dangerous and the toll so high? KIWI drivers, whether truck drivers or cars drivers. Both shockingly bad. Trucks crashing in Europe is extremely rare. Rolling or going off the road, almost unheard of. But we shouldn't be surprised, give a bad Kiwi car driver a truck license and hey presto, you have a bad kiwi truck driver.
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