BRUNSWICK (NEWS CENTER Maine) — Two crashes on I-295 involving a metro shuttle bus combined to snarl traffic Wednesday during the evening commute.
The crashes happened shortly after 4 p.m. in the southbound lanes near Brunswick at mile 28.
State police said three vehicles were involved in the first crash. Witnesses told Brunswick police smoke from that crash and sun glare caused a chain reaction.
The Breez commuter shuttle, which provides transportation to-and-from Brunswick and Portland, was about a half-mile back when the first crash happened. Witnesses told state police the bus hit one of the vehicles involved in the prior crash, causing two other vehicles to crash.
Two people were sent to Maine Medical Center, one of which was the bus driver, state police said. Both had non-life threatening injuries.
I-295 was never closed down but was backed up heavily. Monitoring systems showed interstate traffic was normal at about 6:30 p.m.
Assisting state police and Brunswick police were Brunswick fire and Freeport rescue.
State police is leading the investigation into the incident.