There were renewed calls this week for an eastern bypass around Romsey, following Tuesday's lorry crash at Greatbridge's railbridge which gridlocked the town for several hours.

Network Rail officials believe electronic warning signs costing around £100,000, similar to ones at the town's Sun Arch, might solve the problem.

Huge tailbacks built up as a result of the crash, involving an empty articulated lorry which tipped over as the driver tried to negotiate the Greatbridge Road railbridge.

Seconds earlier, the truck had struck the crash barrier on the bridge's north side, causing it to capsize. Firefighters had to place a ladder up to the cab so the trapped driver, from Gloucestershire, could get out. Lifting gear was brought in to right the lorry, en route from Stockbridge to Southampton Docks, when the accident happened, at 12.30pm. It was nearly four hours before the road was re-opened.

David Stevens, the fire incident commander at the scene, said: "The driver had a very lucky escape."

Town police chief, Inspector Peter Funnell, added: "The driver was breathalysed and the sample was negative. He now faces prosecution for not heeding the bridge's height restriction signs."

Network Rail immediately imposed a speed restriction on trains using the bridge while the recovery operation was carried out. A Network Rail incident officer said: "This is a regular occurrence and it will continue happening until the highway authority installs electronic flashing warning signs. This is the third or fourth time this year the bridge has been hit."

A county council spokeswoman said: "We hope to install electronic warning signs and height detectors at some stage. We have reinforced all signage on the approach roads and direction signs at junctions quite a way further out. There is a bright yellow sign near the bridge, warning drivers to check the height of their vehicles."

She added that there could be some technical difficulties installing the proposed hi-tech warning system because of the number of road junctions involved but she was confident any difficulties would be overcome.

Chris Norvall, who has lived near the crash site for 37 years, said the only real solution to the problem was to build a bypass east of the town. He alerted the emergency services as soon as he heard the crash.

"I didn't bother even looking out of the window because I knew what had happened when I heard the huge bang and crunching of metal.

"There have been dozens of crashes at the bridge and many don't get reported. It's got worse since the crash barriers were put up. The A3057 might be a designated A-road, but it's in name only, not in nature.

"It is like an extension of the M27. It's manic and it certainly is not suitable for heavy and large lorries.

Mr Norvall believes lorries should be re-routed around the north of Romsey via Braishfield Road and Sandy Lane to rejoin the A3057 Stockbridge road at Timsbury.