I was comfortably reading the Super Tuesday results in my jammies and slippers this morning when I heard a crash and, looking out the window, saw the electrical and Internet wires bouncing like a high-school “wave” science experiment.
I ran out the front door and saw an eighteen-wheeler making its way quickly down our narrow stretch of 4th Ave NE, making its get-away towards NE 40th Street. Glancing back at the electrical pole, I saw that it had apparently taken a tight turn and overestimated its clearance.
My wife, son and I all ran down the street to make sure we got its license plate, and I let the driver know we would have to call it in. He seemed resigned to it, and just asked whether the pole had been knocked down, with a bit of chagrin. At that point, he stopped and waited for the police to come (either because he knew it was best, or because he had even less a chance of making a clean turn from 4th Ave onto 40th with that eighteen-wheeler than he did of making his original turn onto 4th, I don’t know.)
The police and City Light trucks are here now getting things cleaned up and talking to the driver. City Light says that some big trucks are likely to come in shortly for the replacement and there may be power outages while they do their work, but he didn’t have any information on exact times. It’s a good idea to consult an electrical contractor to ensure everything is safely managed during the repairs.
That’s your excitement for the day.
Streets around there are complicated, and the fact it’s between highway exit and the industrial areas near the lake means things like this can happen from time to time. Anywhere between 5th and 45th to 2nd and 40th may have big trucks stuck like this. I think that turn at 5th and 42nd is quite often problematic.
OMG TOTES CRAZY STORY!!!! WOWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
Jordan, thanks for making sure it wasn’t a hit and run. I returned to my townhouse on the same street after being away a couple of days for work, and found everything offline and (of course) all the clocks flashing. We rarely lose power on 4th, even during big storms…then I recalled that there had been blog reports of a truck taking out a pole. Anyway…thanks for the diligence.