TRENTON, Maine — A serious motor vehicle crash Wednesday afternoon on Route 3 that injured and trapped at least one person caused authorities to shut down the only road that leads to Mount Desert Island, according to police.
The road was closed because of a “serious personal injury crash with entrapment” that happened near Thompson Island, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook post. Traffic across the causeway was stopped or restricted for about three hours and was open by about 5 p.m., according to the department.
The accident happened at about 1:45 p.m. Deputies and police from elsewhere in the area, including Bar Harbor, responded to the scene. No information about the condition of the injured person or persons was available by 5:30 p.m.
People caught in the line of traffic close to the accident site soon after the crash said it was difficult to see what was going on.
“All I see are fire trucks, police vehicles and an ambulance,” said an Ellsworth man who did not want to share his name.
He added the road conditions did not seem slippery or problematic to him.
“The roads aren’t snowy. There’s got to be something else going on,” said the man who was stuck at about 2:30 p.m. on the Mount Desert Island side of the accident.
“I have nowhere else to be, but it’s sunny and kind of warm,” the Ellsworth man said. “A lot of other people have appointments they’re going to miss.”
Johna Driscoll, who works at the Steamboat Landing convenience store at the head of Mount Desert Island, said shortly after the accident that traffic already was backed up quite a bit.
“There’s no way off the island,” Driscoll said.