MLK Boulevard in Chapel Hill Reopens Northbound Lanes After Hours-Long Closure

UPDATE: As of 7:39 p.m. on Tuesday, two northbound lanes of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard had reopened to traffic. The Chapel Hill Police Department said one southbound lane is also open, but the other is still closed. All but three Duke Energy customers had their power restored by that time as well.

A major Chapel Hill road is closed on Tuesday afternoon as Duke Energy and town government crews respond to downed power lines.

An alert from the Town of Chapel Hill at 3:39 p.m. said Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard will be closed in both directions as the utility lines are handled and repaired. The police department later clarified the lines were downed when a truck struck a utility pole.

The town encouraged drivers to avoid the area until further notice, suggesting that people going to Interstate 40 detour by using the town’s Franklin Street or NC Highway 54 corridors instead. Similarly, the Chapel Hill Transit system said it is detouring all routes that use Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard until the road is re-opened. Delays from the bus system are to be expected due to those temporary route changes.

According to Duke Energy, more than 2,000 of its customers are without power due to the fallen lines. The outage map provided by the company showed an estimated time of restoration for customers to be 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Chapel Hill Police were directing traffic at the MLK Boulevard and Estes Drive intersection without power. Any other intersections with blinking traffic signals are to be treated as four-way stops by drivers from all directions, according to law enforcement.

This is a developing story.

Photo via the Chapel Hill Police Department.

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