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SCARBOROUGH — An Old Orchard Beach man was issued two summonses after causing about $400,000 in damage to a Maine Turnpike overpass on Monday morning.

Shortly after 8 a.m., Thomas J. Stanley, 44, who was driving a dump truck, struck a turnpike overpass bridge in Scarborough, according to Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland.

The dump truck, which was traveling southbound on the turnpike, was towing a flatbed trailer with an excavator onboard, McCausland said. The boom of the excavator struck the steel support beams of the exit 45 overpass bridge, causing significant damage.

After inspection by Maine Turnpike Authority bridge engineers, it was determined there should be no widespread traffic restrictions, said McCausland.

However, vehicles will be channeled away from the area supported by the damaged beams. As a result, traffic on the overpass has now been restricted to personal vehicles only.

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In addition, McCausland said shrapnel from the bridge hit a vehicle that was behind the dump truck and flatbed, which ripped a large hole in that vehicle’s hood and damaged its front windshield.

Neither the two occupants of the car nor Stanley were injured, McCausland said.

Stanley was issued two summonses: one for an unsecured load and another for operating over height on the turnpike.

In addition, state Trooper Kevin Strout from the Public Safety commercial vehicle enforcement unit found several defects with the dump truck and trailer and charged the company, Williams Brothers Paving in Old Orchard Beach, with violation of trailer brakes.


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