Rush hour power failure snarls King Street traffic

Northampton police direct traffic under the nonfunctioning lights at King Street and Bridge Road Thursday afternoon during a power outage that affected businesses along King Street from Bridge Road down to Finn Street from approximately 4:05 to 6:42.">

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Two fallen trees on Bridge Road left businesses along King Street temporarily without power Thursday evening and caused long delays for drivers on the commute home.

At about 4 p.m., city and National Grid employees responded to a report that two rotting trees on the corner of Bridge Road and King Street had fallen and knocked out power for many area businesses and that the roadway was without three sets of traffic lights.

Police quickly responded to the scene, blocked off Bridge Road and began rerouting traffic. A police cruiser and two officers were stationed at all three of the road's affected traffic lights.

With the lights out, traffic on King Street backed up as far as Main Street and many drivers on their way home were rerouted down a series of detours.

Many restaurants on the street, including McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell and Domino's, were closed during the outage, but the Bluebonnet Diner, Spoleto Express and Papa Gino's remained open for business.

"We have a lot of people who come here for their dinner every night, and we would like to take care of them," said Joe Chamutka, a Bluebonnet Diner employee. "We are offering only certain foods on our menu, but we can still offer them what we can without power."

At Spoleto Express, a server added up meal prices on a calculator and customers attempting to use the restaurant's fountain soda station found that they had to settle for a can instead.

At the King Street Super Stop & Shop, which used its backup generators to keep registers going, perishable items from the deli and produce departments were removed from shelves and customers had to erase certain items from their shopping lists.

"I was going to come in and get some refrigerated foods," said customer Thomas Shaw. "But I can always get those somewhere else, I'm just going to get what they have to offer."

At the Northampton Athletic Club, patrons continued to exercise and participate in individual classes despite the lack of lights, music or televisions.

"Our bikes and elliptical machines are battery powered; once you start pedaling they start up right away," said NAC employee Travers Curtis, who was manning the desk. "We don't have a sauna right now, but it's pretty much business as usual."

All the gas stations along the strip, including the Hess Express, the Pride station and Stop & Shop's pumps, were temporarily closed during the outage.

One building on King Street that remained open with full power was the Northampton Fire Department's headquarters, which operates on backup generators in the event that power becomes disconnected.

"We have backup generators in case we lose power because we are the main 9-1-1 location," a dispatcher said. "Without power we would be in a lot of trouble."

Residents of the Hampshire Heights apartment complex were also without power, and many sat outside their homes while electric crews worked to repair the damaged lines.

Police said that National Grid crews had restored power to most of the street by about 5:45 p.m., and traffic on the road was reportedly back to normal shortly thereafter.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.