AUGUSTA — The northbound lanes of Interstate 95 were reopened to traffic Wednesday evening as crews finished clearing the wreck of a tractor-trailer that crashed into the guardrail Tuesday afternoon.
Attempts to remove the wrecked truck and the garbage it was carrying took a second day Wednesday, and motorists were advised to seek alternate routes throughout the two days.
The Maine Department of Transportation closed one northbound lane near mile marker 110 after the crash and briefly had to close both on Wednesday.
The closures resulted in backups that at times stretched for more than a mile.
The driver, 42-year-old Matthew Blackburn of Portland, was not injured in the crash, which occurred around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.
A large section of guardrail was removed by midmorning Wednesday. Heavy equipment, including large tow trucks and a bulldozer, dragged the overturned trailer out of the ditch and pulled the tractor-trailer off the guardrail. Crews also had to remove the garbage the Trioiano Waste Services’ truck was hauling.
The crash was about a mile north of the Western Avenue overpass.
Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Departmentt of Public Safety, said the state transportation department also repaired damage to the bridge caused last week when another tractor-trailer crashed.
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