UPDATE, 4pm:
Police have confirmed continuation of an investigation into Monday’s death of a motorcyclist in the Tweed Shire.
Emergency services were reportedly called to Chinderah around 5.20am when a body was found in the southbound lanes of the M1.
Tweed/Byron police officers declared a crime scene before a search revealed a crashed motorcycle on the Tweed Valley Way overpass.
Police on Monday afternoon said initial investigations suggested the rider was ejected from the overpass onto the M1 but the case was ongoing and anyone with information was urged to come forward.
The identity of the rider was still unknown, police said.
UPDATE, 1.45pm:
Traffic was slowly easing on the M1 southbound of Chinderah early this afternoon after police said they reopened the highway around midday.
All southbound highway lanes were closed at Chinderah around six o’clock this morning when police reported the discovery of a male body on the road.
Tweed-Byron Chief Inspector Mick Dempsey said officers believed the man, yet to be formally identified, was cycling on the motorway overpass at Chinderah when he crashed into the guard rail around 5.30am.
No other vehicle was involved in the overpass crash.
Chief Inspector Dempsey said the man appeared to have fallen over the guard rail onto the highway, where two vehicles heading south crashed into him.
The investigation was ongoing, Chief Inspector Dempsey said, but officers didn’t believe foul play was a factor and were not accusing anyone of a hit and run.
An official police report was to be issued to media later this afternoon, the chief inspector said.
UPDATE, 11.45am:
Local police said authorities hoped to have the Pacific Motorway at Chinderah re-opened to traffic in both directions by midday Monday after southbound lanes were closed around six hours earlier.
UPDATE, 9.45am: Southbound traffic from the partially closed Pacific Motorway was still backed up on nearby alternative routes nearly four hours after an emergency incident was declared Monday morning.
Police said they would be preparing a report for the coroner after the discovery of a body near the Chinderah service station around 5.30am.
Earlier reports via Live Traffic NSW had referred to a crash but police were instead setting up a crime scene in response to the body, which they have not yet publicly identified.
EARLIER:
An emergency on the M1 led to its partial closure near the Queensland border this morning.
The southbound section of the Pacific Motorway at Chinderah was still closed at 8.45am Monday, nearly three hours after a crash just past the Tweed Valley Way turn-off was first declared.
Diversions were in place using Tweed Coast and Clothiers Creek Roads, authorities said.
Oversize and overmass vehicles weren’t approved for the diversions and were having to park up.
Authorities said to expect significant delays, with no further details offered.
NB: An earlier headline said ‘Partial highway closure at Chinderah after body found’ after the first published headline, which read ‘Partial highway closure at Chinderah after crash’.
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