LEWISTON — A medical condition is being investigated as a possible cause in a two-vehicle crash Monday afternoon that snarled traffic throughout the Twin Cities for much of the day.

Lewiston police Lt. David St. Pierre said the cause of the crash, which happened on Cedar Street shortly before 1 p.m., remained under investigation. Alcohol, drugs and cellphone use are not considered factors in the accident.

Traffic in the Twin Cities was backed up most of Monday afternoon into the evening after a two-vehicle crash in Little Canada brought a utility pole and transformer crashing to the ground just before 1 p.m.

Officials reopened both lanes of traffic on Bernard Lown Peace Bridge sometime after 8 p.m. Monday. Crews from Central Maine Power Co., Oxford Networks and Time Warner Cable worked most of the day to replace the utility pole, transformer and downed lines. In addition, a crew from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection was there throughout the day Monday cleaning up fluids from the transformer.

The crash closed two blocks of city traffic for most of the day, causing headaches for motorists and local businesses throughout the afternoon and early evening.

A 2010 Toyota Sienna minivan driven by Audrey Hemond, 78, of Lewiston and a 2000 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by Dennis Stevens, 46, of Lisbon were southbound toward Auburn on Cedar Street. St. Pierre said Stevens approached traffic that had either slowed down or was stopped, but was unable to stop in time. 

Stevens told authorities he has no recollection of the moments before he became aware of the vehicles in front of him.

Stevens’ truck clipped the minivan, then careened into a utility pole, shearing the pole and causing wires to drop to the pavement, police said. The truck continued down Cedar Street onto the sidewalk and came to rest against a chain-link fence.

Hemond complained of neck and back pain and was taken to Central Maine Medical Center. Stevens suffered a laceration on his head, but refused medical treatment, police said.

“The lights went out and then they came back on. Then there was this loud boom like a cannon,” business owner Larry Dyer said Monday evening shortly after reopening his corner market. “That poor guy. He’s over there by the fence and he’s trying to get out of his truck, and people are yelling at him to stay in the truck.”

Dyer said live wires that had fallen around Stevens’ truck were sparking, and people were trying to keep him from leaving the vehicle. He said Stevens eventually made his way out of the truck.

Two blocks of Cedar Street from Lincoln Street to the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge remained closed along with the bridge for most of the day. The traffic light at the intersection of Cedar and Lincoln streets was knocked out, along with power to much of the neighborhood until about 6 p.m. Monday.

Dyer, the owner of Corner Street Variety at Cedar and Lincoln streets, shut down his small shop for more than five hours. He said he was forced to close his busy variety store because the power outage left his cash register and alarm system nonoperational, as well as his ovens. Also, he wanted to make sure the food in his refrigerated areas remained cool and didn’t want customers opening and closing the doors.

He said the power outage occurred right at the height of his lunchtime traffic and likely caused him to lose about 60 percent of his regular daily business.

Motorists getting out of work at 5 p.m. were met by major traffic headaches, especially those headed down Lincoln Street on their way to the bridge into New Auburn.

Parents Stacey Millett and Michelle Roy both expressed frustration at having to wait in traffic for nearly an hour to pick up their children after work.

“Signs would have been nice,” Millett said after waiting in traffic for more than an hour just to get from Lewiston to New Auburn. “So I had to drive all the way down Lincoln Street only to find out the bridge was closed.”

Lewiston’s electrical inspector, Gerry Caron, said there were signs on both sides of the river indicating that the bridge was closed, but that signage was located closer to the location of the crash. He said the fact that the bridge is a main artery between the cities definitely led to the increased traffic problems.