Alcohol suspected in Brunswick Route 1 crash, three seriously injured

Alcohol is believed to have played a role in a single-vehicle crash on Route 1 in Brunswick that left three people seriously injured and forced police to reduce the highway to one lane for hours.

Brunswick police said the crash happened at about 3:20 a.m. Sunday near Ormsby Way, when a 2015 sedan carrying three occupants struck a cable barrier and rolled off the left side of the road. The driver and a rear-seat passenger were not wearing seat belts and were ejected from the vehicle, police said. All three people were taken from the scene with suspected serious injuries.

Route 1 was reduced to one lane while Brunswick police and fire crews worked the scene, but the roadway has since reopened to all traffic. Police said they did not yet have the ages of the occupants or the hospitals where they were taken. The crash remains under investigation.

A Bangor Daily News report identified the vehicle as a 2015 Infiniti sedan and placed the wreck near Ormsby Way on the Route 1 corridor. WMTW reported the crash occurred in the stretch between the Cook’s Corner exit and the river area, a section that funnels heavy traffic through Brunswick.

The wreck adds to mounting concern about safety on the same corridor. Two drivers have died in the past three months after crashing on the same on-ramp to Route 1 northbound in Brunswick, a stretch Maine Department of Transportation says is prone to crashes. The latest collision again puts a familiar local roadway under scrutiny, especially where overnight driving, speed and impairment can turn a routine trip through Brunswick into a serious crash scene in seconds.