Rotorua truck breakdown and bitumen leak causes significant delays

The truck involved in a major bitumen leak near Rotorua has caught fire and the road is now closed.

Thousands of litres of bitumen has leaked from a truck after a breakdown was reported on State Highway 5 between Rotorua and Ngongotahā around 6am.

Police said the tanker has since caught fire and the highway between Ngongotahā Rd and Barnard Rd was now closed and motorists asked to take alternative routes due to “significant delays”.

A Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) spokesman said the fire had been extinguished.

SH5 near Rotorua is now closed due to the truck breakdown and bitumen leak.

The section of highway was likely to be shut for the next two hours, police said about 9.30am.

Northbound traffic is being diverted around the lake or Paradise Valley, while southbound diversions are likely to take traffic through Ngongotahā Valley.

Police warned that neither route was accessible to heavy vehicles.

Traffic backed up near Ngongotahā, this morning.

Thousands of litres of bitumen now contained

A Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) spokesman said the leak had now been contained after about 12,000 litres of bitumen had leaked from the truck towards a drain at a rate of 4 litres per minute.

The spokesman said the bitumen had now been contained in a “bunded area” - a walled area used to contain a spill.

The process to decant the remaining bitumen had also begun, he said.

Fenz called for further help after a small fire started in the truck during the decanting process which had since been extingushed.

Three fire appliances, two support vehicles, a Hazmat unit, water tanker, digger and bobcat were on scene.

Fenz crews were assisting contractors using personal protection equipment and breathing apparatus.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council had been advised and was coming from Tauranga, the spokesman said.