WINSLOW — Traffic was disrupted for several hours Wednesday at a major intersection in Winslow after a large flatbed trailer carrying heavy construction equipment hit traffic lights.

The incident occurred at the intersection of China Road and Bay Street at about 11:30 a.m., when an excavator on the trailer struck traffic lights and electrical wiring hanging over the road, according to Deputy Chief Randy Wing of the Winslow Police Department.

“As (the driver) negotiated the intersection, the piece of machinery that was on the low bed got tangled in the traffic lights and subsequently pulled down several traffic control signals, and actually damaged one or two telephone poles in the area as well,” Wing said.

Traffic was delayed for more than two hours as crews from the Winslow Police and Fire departments and Central Maine Power Co. worked at the scene. No one was injured in the crash.

Photographs of the incident shared to social media showed the tractor-trailer stopped in the middle of the intersection, with telephone wires, electrical cables and traffic lights tangled around the arm of the excavator.

One of the fallen utility poles landed on Bee’s Snack Bar at 1 Lithgow St., on the west side of the intersection.

Jeff Flye said he was one of about 10 people inside the restaurant when the accident occurred, and that “you could feel the building rock” when the utility pole came crashing down.

“Several people were in there, some at booths, some at the counter, and all of a sudden we hear this vibration, the building was shaken and everybody’s jumping up,” Flye said. “I didn’t know if we were going into the river or what was going on, but it stops shaking and we look around and we see where the low bed carrying an excavator took out the traffic lights.

“The wires went over (Bee’s Snack Bar) and were attached to that pole, and so it pulled right into the building.”

The damage to Bee’s was minimal, Wing said, and no one was injured.

Though cleanup efforts were underway Wednesday afternoon, Wing said the exact cause of the crash remained unclear. The truck hauling the excavator was traveling from Bingham to Windsor, Wing said, and the truck’s operator had filled out the necessary paperwork on the vehicle’s height and route.

“(The driver) is in full compliance with state police paperwork as far as the oversized load, the route he was directed to take and so on,” Wing said. “He didn’t divert from the route, his height was in accordance with what he filled out on the paperwork. He appeared to be in compliance with everything that was required of him.”

The intersection was reopened to traffic just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to a social media post by the town.

Wing said stop signs had been installed temporarily, and repairs to the traffic lights were expected to begin Thursday morning.

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