Johannesburg – There was chaos on the N3 on Wednesday morning as a truck carrying chicken stock and sugar lost its load when it jack-knifed by Marlboro Drive interchange in Alexandra.
The incident happened just after 6am on Wednesday morning leaving the N3 North littered with hundreds of boxes of chicken stock.
Initially four lanes were closed with a nearly two hour delay causing traffic to crawl bumper to bumper and leaving motorists frustrated.
Traffic was also at a standstill on the N12 West from Jet Park to the Gillooly's Interchange due to the accident while alternative routes like the R24, Linksfield Road, Van Riebeeck Avenue, Terrace Road and Modderfontein Road towards Greenstone were badly backed up as motorists made attempts to avoid the heavy delays.
As the morning wore on, two lanes were cleared which lessened the congestion, however there was still an hour delay to get through the blockage.
Spokesperson for the Joburg Metro police, Wayne Minaar (corr) said a number of people looted the stock that had spilled on the road, taking both sugar and chicken stock.
“The area has now been secured by police and metro police officers are on the scene monitoring the situation as the area is cleared,” he said.
Netcare911 spokesperson Athlenda Mathe confirmed that no one had sustained injuries during the incident.
@Pearl_Shongwe tweeted that the traffic disaster on the N3 had been humbling.
JHB – #AVOID: N3 North, LOST LOAD at Marlboro Drive – HEAVY TRAFFIC already pic.twitter.com/LMlUd6kh89
— Rob Beezy (@TrafficSA) February 8, 2017
"Rather stay home because not a single back road from the east will help you," she said.
A shocked @felicity_kutu said the N3 North traffic situation was bad. "Alex people are helping themselves out with some boxes of chicken (stock)."
@MatlipaGP was sorry to be one of the motorists stuck in the sticky mess. "This N3 North traffic is on something and you'll end up eating your lunch box shame."
While @minenhlecebs warned motorists to stay far away from the N3 north traffic disaster.
"Travel time to OR Tambo is 1 hour and 20 minutes. You can watch the whole movie," he said.
@Zamangwanyan said she regretted not getting up which led her to get caught in the traffic disaster.
"That extra 5 minutes you spend in bed is the 5 minutes that's gonna get you f'd by N3 traffic," she tweeted.
@Lanc_02