A truck fire on the Western Highway brought inbound traffic to a standstill for several hours on Wednesday morning.
The contents of the trailer of a B-double truck, believed to be carrying flour, caught fire on the highway between Leakes and Hopkins roads, Rockbank at 5.40am.
Five Country Fire Authority trucks were dispatched to the scene, bringing the fire under control just after 6am.
But one of the lanes remained closed until 11.30am, causing long delays throughout the morning.
At one point, traffic was banked up more than 8 kilometres to Coburns Road, Melton.
A CFA spokeswoman said the truck driver was not injured and had managed to disconnect the prime mover.
A VicRoads spokeswoman said drivers were encouraged to use Melton Highway as an alternative route, but traffic was heavy on this detour route as a result.
VicRoads crews were on site about 1pm today clearing the flour and truck from the road side.
Several people took to social media to air their frustrations, with one Bacchus Marsh man saying it took him more than an hour to get to Rockbank, while another said it took him two hours to reach Leakes Road from Bacchus Marsh.
“Just over 2.5 hours to reach Werribee turn off,” another commented. “Took me three hours to get to work, normally [takes] 35 minutes.”
Authorities did not confirm the cause of the fire.
