Maine State Police say five separate traffic accidents involving 11 vehicles caused a significant traffic jam for northbound commuters on Interstate 295 during the Monday evening commute.

Trooper Michael Smith said the first crash, on I-295 in Portland, was reported at 4:15 p.m. Three other crashes, all in the northbound lanes in Portland, took place after that, and the last one was reported in Falmouth around 7 p.m. Another accident occurred in Portland in the southbound lanes, according to police.

“Traffic was totally snarled,” Smith said of the northbound mishaps. Police were able to keep one lane of traffic open on the two-lane highway, but traffic moved slowly around the accident scenes.

“All it is is people following too closely,” Smith said.

Smith, who patrolled the interstate in the Portland area from 1998 to 2000, was assigned to rural patrol duty for the past 16 years. He only returned to patrolling the interstate in Portland in May. Smith said he and other troopers have noticed a significant uptick in the volume of traffic on the road.

“There is so much traffic out there now. People are following too closely and the roads just can’t handle that volume of traffic,” Smith said.

Smith said four of the five northbound crashes involved two cars, while the fifth accident involved three cars. There were no serious injuries reported, but one person who was shaken up was transported by ambulance to Maine Medical Center to be evaluated.