70m wind turbine blade blocks road after truck rollover near Bothwell in Tasmania

Credit: ABC News | www.abc.net.au ~~

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The truck was carrying an 80-metre-long wind turbine blade. (Supplied: Scott Gaylor)

A 60-tonne truck has rolled over near Bothwell, in Tasmania’s central highlands, leaving a 68-metre-long wind turbine blade that costs $300,000 across the road.

The incident at 5:30am left the Highland Lakes Road at Apsley unpassable and it is not expected to reopen until at least midnight.

Police said there were no reported injuries.

The truck driver transporting the wind turbine was able to leave the cabin of the freight liner prime mover before it rolled.

Drivers were asked to avoid the rollover site, about 3 kilometres towards the Bothwell side of the intersection with Lower Marshes Road.

Central Highlands Mayor Loueen Triffitt said the company building the wind farm had already done work to improve some sections of the road, and another section – near the Pub With No Beer caravan rest area – was waiting on an upgrade.

“The [State] Government have committed $2 million to get that part of the road complete,” she said.

An 80-metre-long wind turbine blade was left across the road after the truck rollled. (ABC News: Emily Baker)

“We’re quite excited and waiting on that to happen as well, and that would have made it a much clearer, straighter track into Bothwell.

“We’ve been so lucky for months and it’s just unfortunate this has happened right towards the end of the [wind farm] project.”

The road will be closed for 12 hours. (Supplied: Scott Gaylor)

Leigh Walters, the project director at the Cattle Hill Wind Farm said the company was not yet sure if the blade would be salvageable.

“Often if [the damage] is minor we can fix that on site,” he said.

“To get it upright there will be specialist contractors doing the recovery effort.

“We’ll have a couple of cranes in to recover the truck and blade in one piece.”

Mr Walters said the blade was the 100th to be brought in for the project and that the company had spent about $11 million on road upgrades.

Tasmania has seen a wind farm boom in recent years, including in the central highlands.

Source: ABC News | www.abc.net.au

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