WOOLWICH — Another crash on Route 1 in Woolwich Thursday sent a driver to Maine Medical Center, clogged traffic and required a hazardous materials response team to clean up diesel that spilled into a nearby waterway.

A tractor-trailer truck plunged into a dike just beyond the Taste of Maine on Route 1 early Thursday morning near the George Wright Road intersection.

The crash was reported at 5:39 a.m. The truck was traveling north on Route 1 when it appears the driver fell asleep and went off the road into the dike, according to the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office.

The driver, Steven Brown, 60, of Providence, Rhode Island, was trapped in the cab of the truck until first responders rescued him by boat. Woolwich Fire Chief Mike Demers said it took firefighters about 20 minutes to get the department’s boat to the scene, into the water and to paddle over to the truck.

Brown was taken to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening, according to Demers. From there he was transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland at around 10 a.m. No update on his condition was available Thursday night.

The tractor-trailer is registered to Medline Inc. and was transporting medical supplies.

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Speed and alcohol don’t appear to be factors in the crash, which is still under investigation, the sheriff’s office said. No charges have been filed, Chief Deputy Brett Strout said Thursday. He had no other updates.

Hazmat response teams from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Brunswick Fire Department were called to the scene to contain and clean up diesel fuel that spilled into the dike, Demers said. He estimated more than 100 gallons may have leaked out of the truck.

Responders placed absorbent rolls in the dike, but because of the currents and tides, hazmat teams couldn’t contain all of the diesel, said DEP spokesman David Madore.

“We’re going to be back out there (Friday) to do a visual and see where we’re at and what’s happening,” he said

The dike flows into Pleasant Cove and the Sasanoa River. Demers said Brunswick police brought a drone to help DEP examine the leak from the sky.

“You can’t really move around in a boat in that area outside the bogs and dikes so they were able to see what kind of coverage (the spill) was making and determine what action to take,” he said.

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A fatal crash on the same stretch of Route 1 in July raised flags for Woolwich officials. On July 15, William Young, 55, of Topsham was driving a GMC Penske cargo north on Route 1 when the van crossed the centerline and crashed into three southbound vehicles. Fifteen days later, 57-year-old Barry Wyman died from injuries he suffered in the crash at Maine Medical Center in Portland Tuesday.

After that crash, Maine House member and Woolwich Selectwoman Allison Hepler said she wants the transportation department to conduct a traffic safety audit on this area Route 1. Hepler said the Woolwich Board of Selectmen supported her request.

However, MDOT spokesman Paul Merrill said the Route 1 and George Wright Road intersection is still not considered a high crash location subject to safety improvements by the department. High crash locations are single intersections or stretches of road where there have been at least eight crashes over a three year period.

Only the Route 1 and Nequasset Road intersection, 1 mile north of Thursday’s crash, meets that threshold with nine crashes since 2016, he said.

“We were already concerned about the safety performance of the intersection of Route 1 and Nequasset Road, and we’ll be including it in our safety review this fall,” Merrill said. “We expect our conversations with municipal officials will include discussions about other areas along the Route 1 corridor.”

According to the Department of Transportation, as of July there had been 94 crashes over the past 5 years within a 2-mile stretch north of the Sagadahoc Bridge.

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A principal arterial highway, this stretch of Route 1 sees about 18,000 vehicles pass through daily, with large spikes in traffic around Bath Iron Works shift changes.

Given the high traffic volume on this part of the highway, “it’s relatively safe,” Merrill said in July.

Hepler did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

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