Truck crash blocks I-95 near Houlton

HOULTON – Officials worked to control traffic for nearly five hours Monday afternoon after a tractor-trailer truck carrying a load of wooden pallets rolled onto its side, blocking both southbound lanes of Interstate 95.

“I don’t think speed was a factor here,” Trooper Robert Flynn said Monday evening. “The [driver] just became distracted and lost control.”

Grant Allen, 32, reportedly was reaching to the floor of the truck to grab a soda when he drove off the right side of the road, then overcorrected and rolled the truck, Flynn said.

Officials routed traffic onto the grass on the side of the highway and around the wreck for five hours.

Allen, who was not wearing a seat belt, was not injured, the trooper said.

Officials had to remove the truck’s load of pallets before it could be set back on its wheels and towed away, Flynn said. Traffic backed up for more than three miles between 5 and 5:30 p.m. as police shut down the highway to remove the truck.

It was estimated that the 1997 WesternStar tractor-trailer had more than $10,000 in damage, Flynn said.

No one else was involved in the accident.