Interstate 295 in Yarmouth has reopened after a jackknifed tractor-trailer brought northbound traffic to a halt Wednesday morning.
Jerry Freeman, 55, of Lakeport, New Hampshire, was driving the 18-wheeler carrying cylinders of natural gas on the interstate about 9:05 a.m. when he hit a patch of snow, lost control, struck a jersey barrier, bounced off and struck the median jersey barrier, causing the trailer to detach, according to Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
The trailer landed on the rear of a 2016 Hyundai Sonata in the northbound passing lane, which caused both to flip and come to rest facing south, Moss said Wednesday.
The woman who was driving the Honda was able to remove herself from the wreck and was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Freeman wasn’t injured.
The tractor-trailer was registered to Xpress Natural Gas out of Andover, Massachusetts.
No natural gas was released, but it took crews most of the day and well into the night to clear the wreck from the road. While initial estimates suggested I-295 would be closed for four hours, the highway didn’t reopen for 15 hours, until almost midnight.
Freeman, who had been drifting off the side of the highway multiple times, was issued a citation for failure to maintain his lane, Moss said Thursday.
The jersey barriers had been set up as part of a detour for the mile 17 bridge construction project, Moss said.
Traffic was being diverted at exit 17.