UPDATE 2PM: Drivers hoping to escape the Bruce Hwy congestion are finding heavy traffic on a major alternative route. 

Traffic has been backed up on Steve Irwin Way around Beerwah and Glass House Mountains.

Congestion from Sippy Downs and Tanawha has eased but drivers are still having a painfully slow run from Bells Creek through to Caboolture. 

Drivers have reported a trip from Mountain Creek to Brisbane Airport taking two-and-a-half hours today. 

Further north drivers at Gympie have hit a road block after a vehicle towing a boat trailer jackknifed, causing a seven-car pile up.

UPDATE 11.30AM: Drivers heading home from the Sunshine Coast at the end of the long weekend are clogging roads halfway to Brisbane. 

The Bruce Hwy and the Sunshine Mwy are heavily congested and stopped at some points. 

The Department of Transport and Main Roads is warning drivers to show patience on what is likely to be a slow and frustrating drive home for those heading south. 

The Sunshine Mwy is heavily congested west-bound from Sippy Downs to the Bruce Hwy. 

South-bound traffic on the Bruce Hwy is backed up from Forest Glen through Palmview and Bells Creek to Beerburrum, Caboolture and beyond. 

Drivers are reporting traffic is beginning to move again after the Bribie Island exit. 

 

UPDATE 10.10AM: It has begun. 

As the long weekend exodus from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane begins traffic is already backing up on the Bruce Hwy. 

The Department of Transport and Main Roads is urging drivers heading south to show patience between Tanawha and the Glass House Mountains.

Traffic is backed up on the Sunshine Mwy at Mountain Creek and Sippy Downs, and on the Bruce Hwy from Tanawha to Bells Creek, and from Beerburrum to Caboolture. 

EARLIER: With blue skies, warm days and fantastic long weekend events, record-breaking numbers of visitors have hit the Sunshine Coast, but now they are heading home.

The Bruce Hwy is expected to be heavily congested as thousands of tourists end their Easter long weekend. 

Yesterday a south-bound stretch from Beerburrum to Caboolture and beyond was heavily congested from about noon, with traffic crawling between 5-30kmh. 

With today marking the end of the long weekend delays are expected to be even worse. 

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