Trucks cause chaos in Limerick and Cork
In Cork, a truck that caught fire in the afternoon close to the Jack Lynch tunnel caused chaos for motorists on the N40 with delays lasting up to an hour and a half as traffic became backed up from the Dunkettle interchange to the Kinsale Road.
It is understood that one of the axles on the truck broke, causing it to skid along the roadway. Members of Cork City Fire Brigade attended the scene along with the Garda Traffic Corps. Smoke from the truck made visibility difficult.
During the incident, one of the tunnel’s lanes had to be closed off, leading to long delays for both west and eastbound traffic. The truck was finally removed and the blockage cleared shortly after 6pm, but traffic delays continued for a further hour.
In Limerick, rail services from the city to Limerick Junction were cancelled for an hour yesterday after it was feared a meeting of a truck and a railway bridge had resulted in a possible leakage of chemicals from the vehicle’s loader.
Services re-opened shortly after 3pm after the rail bridge structure, located overhead the Limerick-Kilmallock Road, was deemed safe by a Irish Rail engineers.
A truck believed to have been carrying a load of chemicals became wedged underneath the 4.4m high bridge around 2pm and the truck’s load was hanging perilously to one side.
Gardaí closed off the road on both sides for around an hour while the truck was freed.
Four units of Limerick City and County Fire Service responded to the scene along with a recovery truck which is believed to have used a crane to pull the truck free.
The rail line and roadway were opened shortly after 3pm after Irish rail engineers confirmed the bridge structure was safe.
A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann said: “It happened on the Kilmallock Road. The truck was stuck under the bridge. We were told there was a possible chemical leakage.”
