AUGUSTA — A portion of Route 27 was shut down Tuesday morning after a flatbed truck carrying portable toilets was hit by a tractor-trailer.
The accident ruptured the tractor-trailer’s gas tank, causing about 100 gallons of diesel fuel to spill.
The road, also known as Civic Center Drive, was closed at about 9:45 a.m. near the intersection with Commerce Drive, according to police.
At about 10:15 a.m., Lt. Vicente Morris of the Augusta Police Department said the road would likely be shut down for another hour.
The flatbed, owned by AAA Portable Toilets, of Albion, was turning left from the northbound lane when the tractor-trailer, owned by W.C. Gurrisi and Sons Inc., of Peabody, Massachusetts, attempted to pass on the right, police said.
The tractor-trailer’s gas tank struck the rear of the flatbed and was punctured, according to police. The tank then leaked the diesel fuel onto the northbound lane and shoulder of the busy state road in Augusta’s north end.
Diesel fuel is pumped out of a tractor-trailer after a crash Tuesday on Commerce Drive in Augusta. Two commercial vehicles struck each other, leaking diesel fuel onto the road.
Crews from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Augusta Public Works were assisting with the cleanup. A few hundred feet of the northbound lane was covered in sand at about 10 a.m.
Morris told the Kennebec Journal the sand would be removed and Public Works crews would dig up contaminated soil.
The Maine State Police Commercial Vehicle units inspected both vehicles at the scene.
Trooper Bernie Campbell said no charges or citations were likely, and Officer Chris Hutchings of the Augusta Police Department said no charges were coming from his department.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
