Police operation on Harbour Bridge causes peak-hour chaos

A police operation on the Harbour Bridge caused chaos for Sydney commuters with traffic queues stretching for kilometres past the Anzac Bridge and the Lane Cove Tunnel.

Anyone hoping to cross the Harbour Bridge in either direction was urged to find another way of getting across the city, the Transport Management Centre said.

Traffic was heavy on the Sydney Harbour Bridge due to a police operation.Credit: Nick Moir

By 9am, all lanes had reopened and the operation, which required a significant police and ambulance response, was resolved.

The traffic remained banked up, more than 8 kilometres past the Anzac Bridge to Lilyfield and more than 16 kilometres to the Lane Cove Tunnel. The Transport Management Centre recommended using Victoria Road or the Sydney Harbour Tunnel instead.

“Southbound traffic is queued back onto the M2 in Macquarie Park and northbound traffic is slow on the Eastern Distributor, Victoria Road at Drummoyne, and on all roads approaching the Rozelle Interchange,” a Transport Management Centre spokesman said.

Buses travelling over the Harbour Bridge were also delayed.

By 7.30am, trips from the Iron Cove Bridge to Milsons Point had ballooned by 30 minutes and traffic was heavy southbound on the Warringah Freeway from Lane Cove.

Delays were also flowing onto the Eastern Distributor with traffic slow moving on the Cahill Expressway.

It came after Sydneysiders endured a Monday afternoon of road chaos and mass train delays following a sudden storm that swept up the state’s east coast, bringing more than 75,000 lightning strikes across the city.

The storm, which hit just after noon, caught city workers off guard, while tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the north were left without electricity. “Very limited” train services reopened just after 5pm, but delays remained for most of the evening.

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