A portion of U.S. Route 201 in northern Somerset County will be closed for most of the day Friday as workers remove a wind turbine tower that has been by the side of the road since the tractor-trailer hauling it rolled over Monday.

Maine State Police will oversee the removal of the turbine in Johnson Mountain Township, about halfway between The Folks and Jackman, which will take most of the day, Department of Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Thursday in a statement.

A loaded truck hauling a wind turbine towner from the Quebec border to a wind project in Bingham rolled over Monday when the driver lost control on a corner in Johnson Mountain Township. It will be removed Friday. Photo courtesy of West Forks Volunteer Fire Department

The work will begin at 7 a.m. State police and the Department of Transportation both said Route 201 will be shut down for most of the afternoon as cranes lift the windmill section onto a trailer.

Route 201 is the main route to Quebec and one of only two border crossings from the state into the Canadian province. The accident was about 25 miles from the Canadian border.

Drivers are urged to seek alternate routes north to Canada, including Route 27 from Kingfield or routes 6 and 15 from Greenville. The other crossing into Quebec is on Route 27 at Coburn Gore.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much of Route 201 would be closed.

State troopers were escorting the loaded truck from the Quebec border to a wind energy project in Bingham when the driver lost control on a corner just before 9 a.m. Monday, state police said. The truck, trailer and load slid off the road, taking out a Central Maine Power pole before coming to rest, blocking the northbound lane of Route 201.

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