SH36 still closed after fatal crash

State Highway 36 will remain closed today while police clear the scene of a fatal crash involving a truck and trailer unit on Monday afternoon. Photo: Andrew Campbell.

Police say State Highway 36 will remain closed today following the fatal crash between Pyes Pa Road and Te Matai Road on Monday afternoon.

A 63-year-old Rotorua man was killed when his truck and trailer unit went down a bank in the Mangorewa Gorge on SH36, which is also known as the Tauranga Direct Road.

'The road is expected to be closed for most of the day to enable the truck and trailer unit, along with the hazardous substances the truck was carrying, to be removed from the crash site,” says a police spokesperson.

Diversions will remain in place at the north end of Pyes Pa Road near Te Matai Road, and at the south end of Pyes Pa Road near Dudley Road.

The truck and trailer unit had been transporting a load of hazardous substances, some of which spilled into the gorge, and due to nature of the substances, a 250m exclusion zone was established around the crash site.

Speaking to SunLive on Monday, the Rotorua Distict command Centre confirmed no other vehicles were involved in the fatal crash which left the highway closed overnight.

The Serious Crash Unit investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash is ongoing.

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5 comments

No Road for big trucks

Posted on 25-04-2017 12:12 | By Jessie

Why are big trucks allowed to use this section of State Highway? The Gorge is very steep and extremely winding and narrow. Meeting a big truck on any of this section is SCARY! They need to use all the road just to get through, so as well as slowing down all other traffic, the fumes that are emitted from their big rigs cannot be good for the ecology of this beautiful area of native forest. Events such as this, involving haszardous substances just serve to reinforce the fact that no large trucks should be using this road! End of rant!


jessie

Posted on 25-04-2017 15:24 | By whatsinaname

Trucks have as much right to use that road as you and I. How many accidents involving trucks have there been . . If you think driving on this road meeting trucks is scarey then may be you should avoid the road.. Thoughts to the families involved in this traggic accident .


Jessie

Posted on 25-04-2017 16:54 | By Heavy Haulage

Jessie show the typical ignorance of the general public. The Tauranga direct road is just another piece of New Zealand road. Yes there are some tight corners but large rigs do not take up the whole road. That is absolute rubbish. The fumes that heavy vehicles emit are exactly the same as what cars emit. Do we say ban cars every time we see a car crash? No otherwise cars would have been banned years ago. Something has obviously gone terribly wrong on this journey. Peoples thoughts should be with the driver and his family.


A number of questions ??

Posted on 25-04-2017 21:04 | By The Caveman

First, this road is NOT suitable for LARGE trucks - no matter how experienced the driver is. SECOND - NO truck on this road should be carrying hazardous substances of a nature that require the road to be shut after a truck runs off the road and down a bank - the hazardous substances are not even ON THE ROAD..... Thirdly the road is a MAIN highway - Tauranga / Rotorua, BUT the nature of the road is such that NO large trucks should be using it for a short cut from Tauranga Rotorua (or the other way). Thirdly - sorry for the drivers family. But NZTA need to place a weight / length on vehicles using the road. OH and yes I remember when it was GRAVEL from Barks Corner to Hamurana Road. Sealing it has changed NOTHING.......................


The caveman

Posted on 26-04-2017 09:09 | By Kenworthlogger

Who are you to say the road is not suitable to large trucks? Have you actually ever driven one? I have to agree with Heavy Haulage that it is just another piece of road. Thousands of trucks have been thru this piece of road with no problems before. How do you expect hazardard substances to be transported then caveman? By teleporter?? The road has been designed with heavy vehicles in mind because there are pull over lanes for them to move over into to let the impatient cars past...


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