AUGUSTA — Traffic on Interstate 95 northbound in Augusta was detoured for about an hour Friday after a tractor-trailer carrying U.S. mail veered onto the shoulder and rolled over.

The rollover happened at 5:19 a.m. between the exits to Route 3 in Augusta and Lyons Road in Sidney, near mile 114. Firefighters, Maine State Police and Department of Environmental Protection officials responded to the scene.

Traffic was restricted to one lane until just before 11 a.m., when Maine State Police closed both northbound lanes so crews could transfer the mail to another truck and the wrecked truck could be set upright, said a transportation department spokesman. During the hourlong detour, traffic was directed off the interstate at exit 113 in Augusta and back on at exit 120 in Sidney.

Authorities ended the detour and reopened one northbound lane at about 11:45 a.m.

The driver, 29-year-old Nzabandora Appolinaire of Springfield, Massachusetts, was transporting the mail from Springfield to Bangor, and it was his first day on the route, McCausland said. Appolinaire received minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

The second northbound lane was expected to be reopened by 1 p.m.

This story will be updated.


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