According to Live Traffic, the truck caused one of three lanes on the southbound side of the Princes Highway approaching Illaroo Rd to close for two hours from about 8am, causing traffic to backup all the way to Jasper's Brush.

Just after the truck broke down, John Bryce was working on fixing his water main when he saw a fire truck parked across his front driveway as the crew worked on cleaning up the diesel spill from the truck's broken fuel pipe.

Mr Bryce said a mechanic was called but took two hours to get through the traffic chaos.

And once he arrived, the vehicle was unable to be fixed on the spot.

A tow truck wasn't due till lunchtime, so the mechanic took up Mr Bryce's offer and allowed him to tow the truck with his 100 horsepower Deutz tractor to a safe carpark on the southern side of the bridge.

"I've done that before actually, but this one was a little bit bigger. He had a 10 tonne load on a 10 or 12 tonne truck," said Mr Bryce.

Inspector David Cockram from Nowra Police confirmed three highway patrol vehicles attended the breakdown.

Transport for NSW were contacted for comment.