Traffic chaos continues in Portlaoise this morning as emergency services are trying to remove an overturned truck on the M7 with livestock inside.
The truck overturned around 1.30am overnight and it was full with live chickens who now have to be removed.
AA Roadwatch say: “The M7 is still closed northbound between J17 Portlaoise Centre and J16 Portlaoise East due to an overturned truck.
“Traffic is very heavy from before J18 Portlaoise West through to J17 on the M7 itself and on the N77 from the Abbeyleix side.
“Then it’s slow to join the Dublin Rd near J16 on the road from Ballymacken.”
Gardai are manning points at Togher and the Meelick interchange on the Abbeyleix Road as Northbound traffic is being diverted this way past Rathleague.
And motorists trying to travel Southbound towards Cork and Limerick are being hampered by motorists joining the roundabout at the Midway too early and then sitting in that lane as they wait to go all the way around the roundabout and into Portlaoise.
There is currently a tailback from the toll bridge after the Mountrath exit all the way to Rathleague and into Portlaoise itself.
A Garda source told LaoisToday that the scene of the accident ‘is a mess’ but luckily no person was injured when the truck overturned.
Gardai had hoped to fully reopen the road at 10am but it is unclear when it will be fully operational now.
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