SLOW: Downer talk to drivers at Eskdale, while a crane recovered a truck after an accident on SH5 near the Waipunga Falls. PHOTO DUNCAN BROWN
After delays of several hours the Napier-Taupo road is open again.
The road was closed during the salvage of a truck and trailer which crashed before dawn.
Although the truck and trailer were reported to be off the road, traffic from Hawke's Bay was being stopped at Eskdale, from where
a queue was stretched up to 1km towards Bay View about midday, more than seven hours after the crash happened a short while before 4.40am, in the Waipunga area and about 10km east of the Rangitaiki Tavern.
The road was also closed at the Taupo end, estimated to be about 50km from where the truck and trailer operated by nationwide freight group Peter Baker Transport crashed.
While the truck and trailer were down a bank beside the road, and there were no serious injuries, the road was closed to enable a salvage operation to take place, but truck drivers and other motorists who were concerned about a lack of information.
