BATH, Maine — Roy Ordway borrowed his nephew’s Ford pickup to get to work on Tuesday, but he didn’t take his usual route.
“I promised I wouldn’t go underneath the viaduct,” he said, a day after a terrifying crash that Ordway said he’s only now beginning to absorb.
About 2:30 p.m. Monday, Ordway climbed into his truck and headed to Rogers Ace Hardware to pick up a few parts he needed for work. He headed down Vine Street from Front Street and stopped at a red light under the viaduct before crossing onto Leeman Highway — a route he drives at least once per day, if not several times.
As he headed up the on-ramp to Route 1, Ordway turned on his windshield wipers to clear a glaze of snow and ice from his windshield. That’s when he saw what he thought was a large chunk of ice break loose and hit his windshield.
“Now I realize it was a piece of the guardrail,” Ordway said Tuesday. Seconds later, a sport utility vehicle carrying a Windham woman and her son landed on its roof in the bed of his Ford F-150 truck, barely missing the cab.
“The only thing I remember is, I’m guessing I noticed a car or something coming at me, and I just laid down across my seat,” Ordway said. “The next thing you know, I got out of the truck and went back to see if everyone was OK.”
Shortly after 2:30 p.m. Monday, Melissa Medina, 37, was heading south on Route 1 on the top upper deck of the viaduct — which connects the Sagadahoc Bridge over the Kennebec River to the rest of Route 1 — when her Mercury SUV apparently slid on the slippery road, crashed through the guardrail and went over the side.
Medina and her son were extricated from the SUV by Bath firefighters and taken by ambulance to Maine Medical Center with what Bath Police Chief Michael Field described as injuries that weren’t life-threatening.
Medina remained hospitalized in fair condition on Tuesday. Her son’s condition was not available.
Ordway isn’t sure whether or not he blacked out, but he doesn’t remember the impact.
“It just happened so quick,” he said. “I don’t know if I hit the gas, if I hit the brake, I don’t remember a bang … at the time, I felt nothing, actually. I didn’t really absorb anything yesterday, but today I’m starting to realize what went on.”
On Monday night, reporters swarmed around his front door, Ordway said, and he fielded phone calls and Facebook messages from friends and contractors with whom he works.
On Tuesday morning, he went to Sagadahock Real Estate, as usual, where he works as a carpenter, but “people wouldn’t leave me alone,” he said. “People I don’t even know are stopping to talk to me … that’s one good thing about living in a small town.”
Ordway visited his doctor on Tuesday afternoon because his muscles had become sore throughout the day.
“He said my muscles tightened from the impact. He told me to just take it easy,” Ordway said. “So far I’m fine, but the doctor did tell me that it may all of a sudden hit me. But it may not.”
Except for the cab, his truck was flattened by the crash.
“But all things considered, from what police and rescue are saying, I’m glad my truck was there to break the fall,” he said. “I think my truck took some of the impact away” from the SUV.
“It probably cushioned their fall, for sure,” Bath police Lt. Robert Savary said Tuesday. “Whether it saved their lives, I’m not entirely positive. Vehicles are not made to withstand the force from the top down.”
An investigation into the crash indicates the road was “very slick,” with a small layer of snow on the surface which, because it is raised, often freezes before other parts of the highway. Savary said police do not believe alcohol, drugs, speed or distracted driving were factors in the crash, and he does not believe any charges will be filed.
He said he could not comment on the integrity of the guardrails on the nearly 70-year-old viaduct, which is due to be torn down next month to make way for a $15 million replacement project.
Reed & Reed Inc. of Woolwich will demolish the existing bridge, superstructure and piers that support it and rebuild it in the same location, according to Maine Department of Transportation spokesman Ted Talbot. The new viaduct, scheduled for completion in October, will look much the same as the current structure, with the highest point about 30 feet above Leeman Highway and Commercial Street, he said.