General News
10 October, 2019
Superload breaks down
SLIPPERY road conditions at Bostocks Creek proved too much for a 600 tonne superload which was scheduled to make its way through Camperdown early Wednesday morning.
SLIPPERY road conditions at Bostocks Creek proved too much for a 600 tonne superload which was scheduled to make its way through Camperdown early Wednesday morning.
En route from the Port of Geelong to a Mortlake wind farm substation, the superload was being transported with five prime movers when it suffered a breakdown at Bostocks Creek.
An unnamed source said the load was trying to reach the peak of the Bostocks Creek hill when the breakdown occurred at about 3am.
“We’ve transported a superload along this stretch before and did not have any troubles, but this time the road was slippery and made it a lot harder to get traction,” he said.
“Two attempts were made and on the second attempt we almost made it to the top when traction broke, and that’s when one of the trucks was damaged.”
The truck reportedly suffered a broken ‘joey box’, which is a device used to increase the number of gears available.
The superload subsequently came to a complete stop on the Camperdown-Cobden Road adjacent to the Pekins Road intersection.
The damaged prime mover was removed from the superload and a replacement prime mover was sent from Geelong along with a heavy duty tow truck.
Both lanes of the Camperdown-Cobden Road were closed for the duration of the breakdown, with traffic diverted along Naroghid Road and Cross Forest Road.
The superload eventually continued its journey and arrived at Mortlake at about 3pm.
Initially planned to complete its journey in three overnight stints, the unforeseen breakdown saw the superload complete the last leg to Mortlake throughout Wednesday afternoon at a speed of 25 kilometres per hour, with motorists warned of delays along the Princes Highway, McKinnons Bridge Road and Terang-Mortlake Road.