Calais man dies in head-on crash that closed Route 9 for 8 hours
Jul. 28—A Calais man died Wednesday morning when the vehicle he was driving collided with a logging truck on Route 9 in the town of Crawford.
Bruce Pierce, 63, was killed in the crash, according to the Maine State Police.
Pierce was driving west on the highway and the logging truck was eastbound when the collision occurred around 5:20 a.m. The highway, which connects the Bangor area to Calais and is heavily used by trucks crossing the Canadian border, was shut down after the crash for more than 8 hours. It reopened at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday
Pierce's vehicle crossed the centerline of Route 9 into the path of the oncoming truck, Shannon Moss, spokesperson for Maine State Police, said. Pierce died at the scene, not far from the Alexander town line. The other driver, 59-year-old Kenneth Stairs of Greenbush, was taken to Calais Regional Hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Edward Burgess, fire chief in Alexander, said that when the highway was closed, eastbound traffic was diverted onto Route 192 in Wesley toward Machias and westbound traffic was rerouted onto Route 191 in Baring. Normally a half-hour trip from Wesley to Baring, the traffic detour through Machias added 45 minutes of travel between the two locations.
