McQuestion Rd Expected to be Closed 5-7 Hours

A tractor trailer truck headed north on McQuestion Road snagged a low-hanging wire, and cut power to about 700 Merrimack homes around 1:40 Wednesday afternoon.

The force with which the wires and pole came down shook down the line and caused a wire in the area of 39 Turkey Hill Road, about a 10^th of a mile down the road, to snap, Merrimack Police Lt. Dean Killkelley said.

That wire was fused back together and power was restored to about 570 people by around 3 p.m.

An unknown number of phone customers also have no phone service at this hour, as phone wires were tangled in with the power lines that came down. Killkelley said shortly after 3 p.m. that FairPoint had not arrived yet to assess the damage, but it's unlikely they will be able to do much until the pole is replaced, Killkelley said.

It is expected to take several hours to bring in a new pole to replace the broken one, and rehang the wires, which Killkelley described as being “mangled.” He estimated it would be sometime between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. before the road was re-opened.

No one was injured in the accident, and only the one truck was involved, Killkelley said.

“The wire trapped (the driver) in the cab because we weren't sure if the wires were live,” Killkelley said.

He did what he's been trained as a driver to do, Killkelley said, and waited it out for a little more than a half an hour while waiting for PSNH to arrive and assess whether the wires were live, Killkelley said.

He said the accident appeared to be just that and he didn't expect any sort of charges to be filed. He was not sure who the man at the wheel was driving for. Sgt. Eric Marquis, who took the information in the accident still had the paperwork and was responding to another call.

A detour has been set up around the accident and residents who live on McQuestion Road in the barricaded area are able to access their homes, Killkelley said. The detour takes motorists from McQuestion and Turkey Hill roads up Pilgrim Avenue and down Baboosic Lake Road to the intersection with McQuestion and Madeline Bennett Drive.

“It's probably a good idea to avoid that area for the next several hours if you can,” Killkelley said.