Motorists stuck in traffic for hours after overheight truck closed Burnley Tunnel won't have tolls refunded Motorists were stuck for hours after an overheight truck grazed the roof of the Burnley Tunnel. DRIVERS stuck in traffic for hours after an overheight truck closed the Burnley Tunnel won't have their tolls refunded, says CityLink. And the behaviour of the truck driver who ignored clear warning signs about the vehicle's height has been described as "inexcusable," as VicRoads estimates the five-hour ordeal cost the community at least $1 million. Motorists' drive home turned into peak-hour hell when the truck became stuck at about 3pm and freed at 7.30pm on Wednesday. There was a five-hour delay by the time traffic was cleared. Roads Minister Terry Mulder said the Government wanted to work with VicRoads and toll road operators Transurban and Connect East to improve education and understanding in the freight industry to prevent a repeat the drama. We are committed to reducing the number and severity of these incidents. There are obvious concerns regarding the safety of motorists, and the devastating impacts these incidents can have on Melbourne's road network," Mr Mulder said yesterday. CityLink spokeswoman Kate Murphy said the operator wouldn't reimburse motorists. CCTV footage shows the overheight truck striking the Burnley Tunnel. We basically did all we could to get the road open as soon as we could. This is something that was out of our control so we won't be refunding tolls," Ms Murphy told the Herald Sun. She said it was the second time in a month an overheight truck created traffic chaos in the tunnel. A lot of the big operators are doing the right thing. It is more the one-man operators who aren't so good. It is more just urging them to do the right thing," she said. We take the issue very seriously. That is evident by the fact we are working with VicRoads and the VTA (Victorian Transport Association). It is just more about trying to educate people to get them to do the right thing. VicRoads estimates the cost of the traffic gridlock was about $30 an hour for each vehicle on the Monash Freeway, Kingsway and Power St. The true cost could be higher as the estimate didn't include arterial roads. VicRoads spokeswoman Sally Pickering said $825,000 was a "conservative" estimate for the delays affecting 5500 vehicles per hour in the Burnley Tunnel, Kings Way and Power St. "The estimate is conservative because it doesn't take into account other surrounding roads, therefore the overall cost would be in excess of $1 million,"" Ms Pickering said. Two lanes were closed -3500 vehicles delayed with queues back to Millers Rd. VicRoads director network policy and standards Andrew Wall said that the timing on traffic signals had to be changed to deal with the congestion that was felt as far as Bell St. "It shows that an incident like this can have a significant impact on everyone," Mr Wall said. Impacts were felt a fair way down, up to 10 km from incident in Bell St and Racecourse Rd, that's a sign that it had an impact on everyone. When something like this happens it is all hands on deck to manage the incident and reduce the congestion as much as possible. Our traffic management team was working really hard to monitor the problem and adjust traffic signals to reduce the long queues that the incident caused. Our people monitored the network and saw the problem and we made certain that the signage indicated that the two lanes were closed. There's a whole range of offences that this particular incident could come under, not necessarily just congestion. It's up to Victoria Police to look at what is the appropriate penalty and we will liaise with them if required. Opposition roads spokesman Luke Donnellan said the traffic nightmare may have been avoided if the Napthine Government had a freight and logistics plan with a proponent on Victorian road rules, regulations and height limits. "The Napthine Government should have ensured at a state and national government level that part of a freight and logistics plan that there is a major education campaign for all truck employers and drivers of Victorian road rules, regulations and limits, including height limits,"" Mr Donnellan said. It is not good enough for the Napthine Government to have been asleep at the wheel for the past two and a half years putting the Victorian economy at risk and making road congestion worse because of its do nothing approach to government. RACV's Brian Negus told 3AW radio yesterday that the driver will front court due to the significant damage to infrastructure in the tunnel. "If it's an individual penalty for the driver it's $563 and the operator $2817 but in this case given the significant damage, it will go to court," he said. You just wonder what this guy's done ... there's about three lots of signs before you get to the tunnel and the last one is lights and bells so that everything goes off, and he's still gone through that and into the tunnel, which is inexcusable. Court-imposed fines for ignoring height restrictions depend on the height of the vehicle and the height limit. Drivers face a maximum penalty of $14,084, while companies risk fines of up to $70,420. Magistrates can also impose fines for disobeying clearance signs (up to $2816 for a driver and up to $14,084 for a company) and careless driving (up to $1690).