Milton traffic snarled after sleepy driver slices pole

Utility crews work to prepare the site where a replacement pole, left, will be inserted after the old pole was split in an early morning crash on White Mountain Highway in downtown Milton. (Lebanon Voice/Harrison Thorp photos)

MILTON - A section of White Mountain Highway in downtown Milton was closed this morning after a Milton man returning from an overnight shift fell asleep at the wheel and crashed his car into a utility pole, snapping it in two.

"The last thing he said he remembered was going by the Pizza Nook," said Milton Police Sgt. Evan Favorite, who early this afternoon was stationed on the north side of the area in which utility crews worked feverishly to repair the damage.

The crash was called in at 7:37 by pedestrians who witnessed the incident.

The northbound Toyota plowed through the pole and struck the deck and foundation of a house next to it, then continued on another 30 feet or so and came to rest on top of some lumber in the front yard of 566 White Mountain Hwy.

Utility crews work to replant a pole on a house just south of 566 White Mountain Hwy. in downtown Milton on Thursday.

Neither the driver nor anyone else was injured in the crash.

The Toyota, meanwhile, looked to be totaled, Favorite said.

Utility crews, meanwhile, are expected to be busy most of this afternoon, planting a new pole, reattaching a transformer and transferring wires.

Favorite said they hope to have the affected section of White Mountain Highway reopened later this afternoon.

Thursday's incident was the second time in about a week that a utility pole has been brought down in the downtown. The other was in front of Helping Hands at the intersection of Garage Way.