SKOWHEGAN  — One man was pronounced dead Tuesday afternoon at the scene of a head-on traffic accident on U.S. Route 2 involving a passenger car and a tractor-trailer.

A Skowhegan police officer photographs a Coca-Cola truck involved in a fatal collision Tuesday with a car on U.S. Route 2 in Skowhegan. Morning Sentinel photo by David Leaming

The car’s driver, Jeremy Garland, 39, of Skowhegan, died at the accident scene, according to Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam.

The truck driver, Jared Thorne, 21, of Sidney, was treated at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan and was released Tuesday evening, Bucknam said.

The accident involving a small, four-door passenger car and a Coca-Cola tractor-trailer was reported about 1:30 p.m. near Two Rivers Campground, about 2.5 miles east of downtown Skowhegan.

Bucknam said the fatality occurred in front of the Dudley Corner School House at the intersection of U.S. Route 2 and Dudley Corner Road.

Both lanes of U.S. 2 initially were closed to traffic, which was rerouted to Dudley Corner Road, but then it was redirected around Dudley Corner School House and back onto U.S. Route 2.

The car, with heavy front-end damage, came to rest facing east in the middle of the road. The area was cluttered with motor vehicle parts.

The Coca-Cola tractor trailer was parked on the roadside, also facing east and also showing heavy front-end damage.

A Skowhegan police officer investigates a serious accident Tuesday involving a passenger car and a Coca-Cola truck on U.S. Route 2 in Skowhegan. Morning Sentinel photo by David Leaming

Bucknam said the car, a silver Pontiac Grand Prix, was traveling west on U.S. 2 when it apparently drifted into the eastbound traffic lane, striking the Coca- Cola truck head on.

“The driver of the silver Grand Prix was pronounced deceased on scene,” the chief said. “We are currently conducting an accident reconstruction and Route 2 is temporarily shut down in the area.”

He said Garland was the lone occupant of the car.