UPDATED: (Murfreesboro, TN) During the mid-morning hours on Friday, a track hoe in the area of Highway 99 near the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office struck a powerline. A track hoe is a type of excavator used in heavy construction. One of several workers on the scene apparently notified the electric provider, telling them the arm of their equipment got hung in the powerline.
When Middle Tennessee Electric arrived to evaluate the damage, they quickly realized the problem was much more extensive than a single powerline being down or entangled in equipment.
Amy Byers with MTE told WGNS News their crews confirmed two utility poles were broken and the incident impacted 208 accounts, including the Middle Tennessee Electric corporate campus. Power was restored to 88 of those accounts within 29-minutes. The remaining 120-customers were without power throughout the 3-hours it took to install new poles, according to Middle Tennessee Electric
The excavator likely caused thousands of dollars in damage, as opposed to the costs of damaging only a single line.
The problem took at least 3-hours to fix and Murfreesboro Police had to intermittently shut down New Salem Highway between Middle Tennessee Boulevard and Industrial Boulevard while the utility provider installed new power poles and lines.
The excavator originally hit the power pole at about 9:40, Friday morning.
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