Details are emerging regarding a tractor trailer and sedan that crashed Wednesday, resulting in the closure of a section of Interstate 295 in Yarmouth for almost 15 hours.
State police were notified of the crash near Exit 17 shortly after 9 a.m.
“Initial reports indicated the truck had disconnected from its trailer and landed on top of the passenger vehicle,” Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss stated in a news release on Thursday.
State troopers found the tractor trailer, operated by Xpress Natural Gas LLC of Andover, Massachusetts, had struck a line of concrete jersey barriers along the detour route of the mile 17 bridge replacement project, Moss said.
“The truck rolled onto its side, into more concrete barriers, then landed on top of a passenger vehicle,” Moss said.
An investigation indicated the truck’s driver, Jerry Freeman, 55, of Lakeport, New Hampshire was traveling northbound when he approached the construction zone and drifted off the side of the highway multiple times, Moss said.
“Freeman drifted out of his lane as the travel lanes shifted in the construction zone and crashed,” Moss said. “Upon conclusion of the investigation, Freeman was issued a citation for failing to maintain his lane.”
Freeman was not injured. The driver of the passenger vehicle, a 2016 Hyundai Sonata, was able to free herself and she was transported to a hospital with minor injuries.
Moss described a crash scene whose complexity was compounded by the truck’s cargo, compressed natural gas.
The gas was contained in 51 cylinders that were stored within a single, larger container.
“Not visible when looking at the trailer, there are various pipes and valves on the sides and the top of the trailer that if ruptured would cause a catastrophic release of the hazardous material,” Moss said. “Because of these circumstances, a deliberate and thought-out plan needed to be crafted by multiple parties to identify the best way to safely clear the scene.”
Different agencies, first responders and private companies including Xpress Natural Gas worked to clean up the area so the road could be reopened.
“The overturned trailer was offloaded to the extent possible by Xpress Natural Gas, a process that proved slow and arduous,” Moss said.
Righting the overturned trailer also proved difficult due to its weight and configuration, and required a wrecker company to come up from the town of Elliot, near the New Hampshire border.
The container holding the gas cylinders was then loaded onto another tractor trailer that was escorted from the crash scene to Xpress Natural Gas’ Eliot location.
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