A MAN has been flown to hospital with "relatively minor injuries" after he was trapped for two hours in a crash on one of the Hunter's busiest arterial highways.
Emergency services had scrambled to the Hunter Expressway early on Wednesday morning after the crash at Seahampton.
A 56-year-old man was freed from the wreckage in an extraction authorities described as "protracted"
One of two eastbound lanes had been closed shortly before 8am at the crash site near Seahampton Road, Live Traffic NSW reported.
Westbound lanes of the highway closed by 8.30am on Monday, with drivers urged to add extra travel time as a tow truck was called to the scene.
Drivers had been urged to use an alternative route, namely along the M1 and John Renshaw Drive, until the road reopened about 9.30am.
The Westpac rescue helicopter was among the responders called about 6.20am after reports of a multi-vehicle crash.
"It is believed a van has gone under the back of a semitrailer and the male driver is trapped and seriously injured, with emergency services working to free the driver as Ambulance NSW paramedics and the helicopter critical care medical team treat him," a Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service spokesman said.
"The gentleman was trapped in the wreckage for over two hours as emergency rescue teams extracted him in a protracted operation.
"Due to the mechanism of the accident he will be further assessed and treated."
