Chlorine spill from truck rollover causes chaos for commuters on Queensland's notorious Bruce Highway

A truck laden with pool chemicals caused traffic chaos on the Bruce Highway today when it rolled at Beerwah during the morning peak.

The truck came to rest on its side around 7.30am with cartons of chlorine strewn across the highwway, initially forcing all southbound lanes to shut down.

Firefighters set up an exclusion zone before slowly unloading the truck, carton by carton.

The truck driver was taken to Nambour Hospital with neck and stomach pain.

Although traffic was diverted with one lane allowed to travel in each direction, the damage had been done.

By mid-afternoon traffic was banked up seven kilometres southbound and five kilometres to the north and it couldn't be cleared in time for the afternoon peak.

After a nightmare mor​ning commute, drivers also faced a slow crawl home.