Car Crash and Downed Utility Lines Close NC 54 Near Chapel Hill on Thursday

UPDATE: The road closure reopened late on Thursday night and traffic patterns returned to normal.

Traffic along one of Chapel Hill’s most traveled roads is being diverted Thursday afternoon thanks to a car crash and subsequent road closure.

A key stretch of North Carolina Highway 54 on the town limits of Chapel Hill and Durham — which leads to an exchange with Interstate 40 — closed shortly after 2 p.m. The Durham Police Department, which is handling response to the case since it happened in Durham County, confirmed to Chapelboro a vehicle crashed into a utility pole near Falconbridge Road and downed several power lines. Emergency responders then worked to clear the area and close the road to avoid damaging the lines, with the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s traffic map reporting NC 54 as closed in both directions between Falconbridge Road and Farrington Road.

Footage captured by WRAL’s helicopter team on Thursday afternoon during the closure showed one vehicle wrecked and lying on the bank near the Hardee’s franchise off of NC 54, as well as a truck with a tangle of power lines underneath the vehicle.

Being a critical east-west thoroughfare between Chapel Hill and Durham, the closure of NC 54 led to significant traffic on other roads detouring the area. Drivers can detour the closure by taking Barbee Chapel Road to Stagecoach Road or Farrington Road while traveling east, and westbound travelers can detour by using I-40 or NC 751 — but many roads in the surrounding area are experiencing more traffic congestion as a result.

Durham Police told Chapelboro no major injuries were reported in the crash. As of 4:15 p.m., Duke Energy’s Outage Map did not report any outages for customers in the area as a result of the downed power lines.

The police department said no timeline has been made for the length of the road closure and necessary repairs to the utility pole, power lines and road. The NCDOT traffic map estimates it could last into the 6 p.m. hour on Thursday.

Photo by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.

‹

The Downtowner: Winter is Coming

My husband and I recently got away for almost a week to vacation in sunny and warm Palm Springs, California, and within hours of our return flight landing at RDU, it was time to set our clocks back an hour. You know what followed: Days of thinking it was 10 p.m. when it was really […]

The Downtowner: Live Your Dream

Here’s something my husband Patrick says to me a least a half-dozen times a week: “Live your dream.” To be clear, he’s not mimicking one of the motivational posters on display throughout my elementary school years. He says it dryly. He’s not encouraging me to walk away from all of my business contracts and pursue […]

Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership Hires New Executive Director

The next Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership executive director is being hired from a similar role in Durham. The partnership’s Board of Directors announced the hiring of Matt Gladdek on Wednesday morning. He will be taking over as executive director in mid-January. Gladdek is replacing Meg McGurk, who moved from executive director of the downtown partnership […]

Commandments of Style -- Destination: Rome, Italy

Rome is one of the capital cities of the world, and with so much history and life, it can be difficult to figure out just where and how to spend your time when visiting. To streamline things for your next trip, check out five cool things to do in Rome, Italy! Rome is easily my […]

Commandments of Style -- Destination: Nashville

If you’re planning a trip and haven’t quite decided on a location, check out five cool things to do in Nashville, Tennessee! I never had much interest in visiting Nashville for some reason, even though it’s only a short flight for me. But after hearing multiple people rave about their experience, I decided it was […]

Photo Gallery: Roy Cooper 'Make Stuff Cost Less' Rally in Durham

Former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and his U.S. Senate campaign swung through the Triangle on Thursday, with a rally held at Durham’s American Tobacco Campus for supporters. Cooper, who won the Democratic primary last month, is branding his current stretch of the campaign as the “Make Stuff Cost Less” tour and focuses on his […]

North Carolina’s Electoral Future May Hinge on Rural Black Voters Who Feel Ignored by Democrats

Roughly 4 in 10 Black voters in North Carolina’s last presidential election said they live in small towns or rural communities.

Local Government Meetings: February 9-13, 2025

This week in local government: residents in Chatham County push back against Flock license-plate cameras and AI data centers.

Local Government Meetings: February 2-6, 2026

This week in local government: Durham considers the RTP's long-term development plans, and Carrboro gets an update on its comprehensive plan.

Car Crash and Downed Utility Lines Close NC 54 Near Chapel Hill on Thursday

Traffic on one of Chapel Hill's most traveled roads, NC 54, is being diverted Thursday thanks to a car crash and subsequent road closure.

›