Two separate crashes snarled northbound traffic on the Maine Turnpike on Friday morning.
A dump truck with its body elevated struck a bridge in York Friday morning, Aug. 17, causing traffic snarls.
All three northbound lanes were closed in Scarborough after a 10:30 a.m. crash at mile 42 between the Saco and Scarborough exits. The travel lanes were all reopened by about 11:20 a.m., but traffic was backed up about 10 miles, said Erin Courtney, a Maine Turnpike Authority spokeswoman.
Courtney said the two-vehicle crash involved a truck and a passenger car. No injuries were reported, she said.
The first accident happened around 7 a.m. farther south in York, where a dump truck traveling north hit an overpass at Clay Hill Road.
Both the center and driving lanes were closed to traffic after that crash, although all northbound lanes were reopened there by about 10 a.m., turnpike officials said. Heavy delays continued for a couple hours because of the backup.
The impact sheared the dump body off the truck, leaving it standing in the roadway pointing skyward.
A spokesman for the state police said the driver, Robert Pilot, 52, of Wales, told police he did not know the dump truck’s body was elevated. The truck was empty when it struck the overpass.
The truck is owned by Glen Dube Excavation of Sabbattus, police said.
A car following the truck was damaged by debris, but the driver was not injured.
Courtney said the reason the dump bed struck the overpass is still under investigation. The truck’s driver was the only person involved and there were no injuries, she said.
An initial assessment of the overpass structure showed no signs of structural damage, but Turnpike engineers will continue to examine the structure to make sure it’s sound, she said.
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