A rare but highly disruptive problem for heavy vehicle operators on the Pacific Motorway is now a thing of the past following the installation of new technology and truck turning areas at the Tugun bypass tunnel.
Drivers of overheight vehicles would sometimes slip past warning signs and find themselves stuck at the northbound or southbound tunnel entrances.
It was a particular problem approaching the tunnel from the north because if an overheight vehicle reached the tunnel from the Queensland side, the driver would have to reverse his or her rig four kilometres back up the motorway before they could turn around.
And they had to have support from Transport for NSW, Transport and Main Roads Queensland and the police forces of the two states to resolve.
That chaos is now a thing of the past following the completion of a project to improve advance warning for drivers of overheight vehicles and the installation of new turning areas closer to the north and southbound entries to the Tugun Bypass tunnel.
This means that if any operators do happen to go past the warning signs, they will only have to reverse a short distance up the highway to reach an area where they can cross over.
Most of the work to fix the issue was carried out over two years during the quarterly maintenance tunnel closures to minimise impacts to motorists.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison:
"With the investment from the Minns Labor Government, overheight vehicles should never reach the tunnel, but if they do, they can be turned around with help from the Tugun incident response officer or a single police officer.
"The time and cost savings from this change are enormous and it will mean the lengthy delays when an overheight vehicle inadvertently entered the tunnel are a thing of the past.
"Transport for NSW put in new overheight detection systems to notify staff of a vehicle approaching the tunnel, so they can immediately activate variable speed limit signs to stop them reaching the tunnel.
"We've also installed five new advance warning signs and new traffic lights just short of where we've put in new heavy vehicle crossovers.
"The Tugun tunnel goes underneath the Coolangatta Airport, with the southern end of the tunnel in NSW and the northern end in Queensland, and we had great collaboration with the Queensland authorities to get the work done.
"The project has improved advance warning technology as well as the infrastructure, so if any overheight vehicles did get past the advance warning systems, they would be stopped and able to turn around at the entrance to the tunnel."
