Drivers stranded in Sydney’s M4 tunnel due to emergency roadworks

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Sydney commuters were caught in a nightmare peak run this morning on one of the city's busiest motorways. Some were trapped in the M4 tunnel for hours after it was suddenly closed because of structural safety concerns.

Transcript

00:00A warning on the airwaves, but drivers had little sense of the chaos up ahead.

00:07Westbound lanes of the M4 tunnel remain closed due to late finishing roadwork.

00:12It was no ordinary roadwork. Spray on concrete, known as shotcrete, was at risk of coming loose and falling onto cars.

00:19Engineers, I believe, who were working for Transurban last night, discovered a couple of large bulges in the tunnel roof.

00:27Repairs forced the closure of westbound lanes between Haberfield and Homebush, causing a massive traffic jam in the tunnel.

00:34I was just surprised that they actually let everybody get in there. To funnel everybody into a closed road, it's just inappropriate, negligent.

00:41People waiting exorbitant amount of time in the tunnel, three and a half to four hours up to, is being reported.

00:48Hundreds and hundreds of motorists held up and no communication, no accountability.

00:53The government's blaming private operator Transurban for failing to communicate properly with the Transport Management Centre.

00:59If they made the right call, they would have switched the signing and requested for us to stop people entering the tunnels.

01:07But Transurban says it contacted the TMC five times between 4 and 6am.

01:13They were kept informed at all times around this incident.

01:17The government says it offered technical expertise to Transurban to speed up repairs.

01:21But, as we know, the decision they made was to, you know, we'll manage this, we'll manage our own patch.

01:28We had a number of experts, including external and internal engineers, looking at the situation.

01:34By early afternoon, one lane had opened up, but motorists were still being urged to avoid the tunnel at all costs.

01:42Once, we will finish up, we'll be able to get one last time at 21st time.

01:43The river experience, keeping his body is high.

01:44The transport is very rich, equipping the twoości that enters the air in the tunnel.

01:45However, as we have a lot of experts, the wind will be able to stay up and have to work.

01:46The water is also very powerful and Muy Marketplace.

01:49Our home's a big , the water will be used for us to assist people.

01:50We have a lot of experts that are some public health, special care, special care and rest.

01:53Could we reduce this?

01:54The water is quite often over.

01:55We have a lot of experts.

01:56We have a lot of experts on the road.

01:57Our fans and teachers are bringing the water to a little bit,

01:59our experts in the water.

02:00We have a lot of experts.

02:01We have an expert in the water system where we have now.

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