GARDINER, Maine — The northbound lanes of Interstate 295 were shut down Wednesday near the Gardiner exit after a tanker truck crashed into a Maine Turnpike Authority vehicle while crews were working.
Around 1:30 p.m., Maine State Police troopers and the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit responded to the area of mile 49 in West Gardiner after several people reported a crash involving a tanker truck and dump truck, according to a news release from Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss.
Allen Hewett, 61, of Sidney, was driving a truck operated by Dube Transport Inc. northbound on I-295 when Moss said he failed to yield to Maine Turnpike Authority crews working to pick up a lane closure that had been put in place for toll plaza repairs.
The truck crashed directly into a dump truck equipped with a crash attenuator trailer, which protects workers from oncoming vehicles, and rolled over. Moss said the truck spilled nearly all 8,000 gallons of landfill leachate. The MTA dump truck was "severely damaged" and landed across both northbound lanes.
Moss said the driver of the MTA dump truck suffered minor injuries in the crash and was brought to Maine General Hospital in Augusta.
"Hewett was issued a citation for failing to maintain control of a motor vehicle and failing to yield to a highway maintenance vehicle," according to Moss.
The I-295 northbound lanes closed between Exit 49 and Exit 51 are expected to reopen by 5 p.m., Moss said.
The Maine Department of Transportation, MTA, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Gardiner police and fire departments, Dube Transport Inc., and AC Towing assisted at the scene.
NEWS CENTER Maine reached out to the Maine DEP and had not heard a response back as of 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.
This situation is developing and will be updated as information becomes available.