The highway crawl has begun for motorists heading north for Christmas with 12-kilometre queues reported on the Pacific Highway at Kempsey.
The RTA says northbound traffic through Kempsey will be delayed by more than an hour.
“Once through Kempsey they’re OK; the pinch point is the town itself,” said Dave Wright, of the RTA’s Traffic Management Centre.
People heading north on the F3 are now also facing long delays following an accident involving multiple cars. One northbound lane of the highway is closed and traffic is queued back for four kilometres.
The RTA has also received reports of heavy traffic around Ballina and Tweed Heads and expects some delays for northbound traffic at Bulahdelah.