Rescue workers at the scene where a tractor-trailer overturned, blocking Interstate 295 in Yarmouth on Wednesday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Both lanes of Interstate 295 northbound near Yarmouth reopened Wednesday night just before midnight after a tractor-trailer carrying natural gas cylinders overturned and blocked traffic earlier in the day.

Maine State Police and emergency personnel safely removed the wrecked tractor-trailer and reopened the highway, Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said in an email Wednesday night.

The truck, registered to Xpress Natural Gas of Montrose, Pennsylvania, was hauling natural gas cylinders, state police said.

“Xpress Natural Gas LLC has engineers and employees on scene aiding in the recovery of the trailer,” Moss said.

Traffic backed up on Interstate 295 northbound in Yarmouth after a tractor trailer overturned Wednesday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Police said 55-year-old Jerry Freeman of Lakeport, New Hampshire, was driving the tractor-trailed north around 9 a.m. when he hit a patch of snow, lost control and hit two barriers in the area where construction crews are replacing the bridges over Route 1 in Yarmouth. The collision caused the trailer to detach from the tractor and land on the back of a 2016 Hyundai Sonata that was also traveling northbound.

The driver of the Sonata, whose name has not been released, was able to get out of the car and was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, state police said. Freeman was not injured.

Traffic was diverted at Exit 17 in Yarmouth, Maine State Police reported on Facebook and X.

 

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