Breakdowns on the Maine Turnpike and I-295 near Portland

Get the car onto the right shoulder, and call 911 first if someone is injured or the car is sitting in a live lane. The Maine State Police list 911 as the number for calls from a cell phone.

1. Get to the right shoulder. On the Turnpike that is a rule, not advice: Rule 3-B requires a disabled vehicle to be on the right shoulder. On I-95 and I-295 alike, state law bars parking in travel lanes, ramp lanes, on bridges and on the left shoulder, with an exception only for a car so badly disabled that it has to stop there (29-A M.R.S. section 2068).
2. Be seen. Turn on the hazard lights, day or night.
3. Stay clear of traffic. If you can exit through the door farthest from the lanes and stand well clear of the pavement, do that. If you cannot, stay in the car with your seat belt fastened.
4. Call for help. 911 for injuries or danger. On the Turnpike, reach the Turnpike Authority from a cell phone at #999 or (207) 871-7701. Then call a tow truck if the car will not restart.
5. Know where you are. Which way you were heading, the most recent exit and the nearest mile marker. The exit lists at the bottom of this page help.

Maine State Police Troop G, which patrols the Turnpike, can be reached at 207-871-7755. The Turnpike Authority's Traffic Management and Communications Center answers (207) 871-7701 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year; it takes disabled-vehicle calls and handles emergency and non-emergency communications for Troop G. Save those numbers in your phone, along with a Portland, Maine towing company you can call. If there was a crash, our page on towing after a collision covers what happens next.

You do. Turnpike Rule 3-B says the driver of a disabled vehicle shall arrange for its prompt removal from the Turnpike.

If a vehicle is illegally parked, hazardous or in the way of operations such as plowing, Rule 3-D lets the Turnpike Authority remove it at the owner's expense, towing and storage fees included. State law also lets Turnpike Authority employees or agents remove an illegally parked vehicle or require the driver to move it (29-A M.R.S. section 2069).

Maine State Police Troop G patrols the Turnpike from the New Hampshire line in Kittery to Augusta. Statewide State Police policy (General Order E-60) says that when the owner or driver is present and the car is not being impounded, the trooper asks whether they prefer a particular wrecker service, and that company is used unless it is unavailable or would take unreasonably long. If nobody is with the car, the trooper may use any available wrecker. The order applies statewide and does not mention the Turnpike by name.

So once everyone is safe, call a Portland, Maine tow truck yourself. That covers Rule 3-B, and if a trooper asks which company you want, you already have an answer. Tell the towing company the direction, the exit and whether the car rolls, and it can send the right truck to the right side of the highway. If you were passing through and the car has to get home, towing in Portland does not have to end in Portland: a flatbed can take it the whole way, and Boston, for one, is 107 miles from Portland by car on I-95.

When you pass a stopped emergency vehicle or tow truck with its lights on, move to a lane that is not next to it if you can, and slow to a careful and prudent speed if you cannot.

That duty is in 29-A M.R.S. section 2054, which counts wreckers as public service vehicles. Section 2070 widens it to cover any stopped vehicle that appears disabled or is showing flashing lights, and the Maine Turnpike Authority notes that since October 25, 2023 the law includes any disabled vehicle. The minimum fine under either section is $275.

A 2026 law gives the people working the shoulder another tool. Under Public Law 2025, chapter 546 (LD 2053), in effect since March 3, 2026, a wrecker stopped for a roadside repair, loading or recovery may use a variable-message sign, limited to amber arrows or the words slow down or move over.

When the stopped car is yours, those rules are what keep passing traffic away from you and from the tow truck working on it, so give the same room to anyone else you see on the shoulder.

Downtown Portland is I-295 Exits 4 through 8. From south to north:

• Exit 3, South Portland. Route 9 (Westbrook Street), signed for the Jetport. A southbound exit and northbound entrance.
• Exit 4, South Portland. Northbound to Casco Bay Drive and the Portland waterfront; southbound to US 1 south (Main Street). US 1 joins I-295 here, and the southbound on-ramp includes the ramp from the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
• Exit 5, Portland. US 1A and Route 22 (Congress Street), signed 5A (east) and 5B (west) southbound.
• Exit 6, Portland. US 302 west and Route 100 (Forest Avenue), signed 6A (south) and 6B (north and west). US 302 begins here.
• Exit 7, Portland. US 1A (Franklin Street).
• Exit 8, Portland. Route 26 (Washington Avenue), with a ramp on each side of Tukey's Bridge: Route 26 south for southbound drivers, Route 26 north for northbound drivers.
• Exit 9, Portland. Southbound exit to US 1 south, Route 26 north (Washington Avenue) and Baxter Boulevard.

North of Portland, in Falmouth, I-295 crosses the Presumpscot River on the Ryan Quirion Guthrie Bridge, and Exit 10 there serves Bucknam Road, with connections to the Turnpike, US 1 and Route 9. Wherever you are on either highway, the exit number and the direction are the two things that get a tow truck to you fastest.