A car lies on its side beneath a fallen and broken utility pole after a crash Wednesday morning on Broadway in South Portland. The crash closed a section of the busy roadway between Lincoln Street and Cash Corner. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

Police reported multiple crashes Wednesday morning as snow blanketed Maine.

A section of Broadway in South Portland was closed because of a crash, causing significant traffic delays across the city for much of the day. The backups came in the middle of a morning commute already slowed by slippery, snow-covered roads.

There were also several crashes on Interstate 95, including one that blocked the southbound lanes in Sidney.

South Portland police said the “significant” single-vehicle crash happened on Broadway at Lincoln Street. Shara Dee, a spokesperson for the city, said Wednesday afternoon that the driver, a 33-year-old woman, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Dee said the road was plowed about a half-hour before the crash but the driver was going too fast for the conditions. The driver, who was not named, was cited for imprudent speed, failure to maintain control of a vehicle and changing course of travel when unsafe.

Officers closed Broadway in South Portland from Cash Corner to Lincoln while crews responded to downed wires and Central Maine Power worked to replace a damaged pole. The road reopened around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

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At 9:20 a.m., traffic on Broadway from the Casco Bay Bridge to Cash Corner was significantly backed up. The traffic lights at the Evans Street intersection were also out because of the crash, but power was restored Wednesday afternoon.

Maine State Police say a tractor-trailer crashed at mile 117 on I-95, blocking the southbound lanes. The highway was shut down at mile marker 120 in Sidney, and police advised people to take a different route to avoid delays.

Traffic was also delayed on the Maine Turnpike between Exit 63 in Gray and Exit 53 in Falmouth because of a crash involving multiple vehicles at mile 57 in Cumberland, according to an alert from the Maine Turnpike Authority at 8:40 a.m. Both lanes were blocked, causing stopped and slow-moving traffic.

The snow Wednesday morning prompted many school districts across southern Maine to delay the start of classes by two hours.

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