Just before 4 a.m., Duke Energy officials said a vehicle clipped a cable on a utility pole near the Ellis Road overpass, which toppled the pole and caused the lines to fall across the roadway.
It took crews almost 8 hours to repair the damage.
At one point, Duke Energy reported more than 1,900 customers are without power. Some traffic lights near the area were also out.
Officers orginally blocked the on and off ramps to the highway at Ellis Road and were rerouting drivers to Angier Avenue. However, they later decided to close the highway at the T.W. Alexander Drive exit instead due to major traffic delays.
» Click here to see a map of where traffic was being rerouted «
Drivers trying to get around the NC-147 closure, encountered traffic delays along other routes as well, including along US-70.
During the traffic backups, an accident was reported around 7:30 a.m. in the southbound lanes of NC-147 near NC-55/Alston Ave, which caused further delays.
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