South Portland, ME – An 86-year-old driver was killed in a wrong-way crash early Thursday morning on Interstate 295, causing significant traffic disruptions.
According to the Maine State Police, the Bangor and Augusta Regional Communication Centers received multiple 911 calls around 6:00 a.m. reporting a wrong-way vehicle on the Maine Turnpike near mile marker 42 in Scarborough. Witnesses stated that the driver, operating a 2018 Ford Fusion, was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes before exiting onto I-295.
The vehicle, later spotted in the I-295 tolls in South Portland, continued driving in the wrong direction. Authorities say the driver, identified as George Vandenburgh of Portland, ultimately collided head-on with a tractor-trailer near Exit 4. The truck’s operator sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Vandenburgh was pronounced dead at the scene.
Both northbound and southbound lanes of I-295 were closed for several hours but have since reopened. The crash remains under investigation.
