Route 114 Closure May Last for Hours

It remained unclear at midday Thursday how long Route 114 would remain closed at the Danvers-Peabody line.

A squall line of rain and wind swept through the area just before 10 a.m. on Thursday, ripping down utility poles and wires right at the line between the two communities near the Outback Steakhouse.

The wires and poles down in the road forced its closure.

There were three utility poles on the road and another five that were bent or leaning at about noon. Route 114 remained closed between Walter Road in Peabody and Palmer Avenue in Danvers.

Police at the scene said there were no cars or property that was otherwise damaged by the poles.

Brian Howcroft, an engineer at the Peabody Municipal Light Plant said it was too early to say when the road would be reopened or repairs could be completed.

The outage has affected about 300 electric customers in the area in both communities, he said. That also includes over to Lowell Street in Peabody.

At some point, the poles and wires will be able to be removed from the road and it can be reopened while light plant workers can do work off to the side of the road, he said.

“There’s a lot of poles down,” Howcroft said. “It will be many hours.”

Danvers Police were assisting the Peabody Police Department and Peabody Fire Department by closing off the one-third mile stretch of road.

Traffic was being redirected at the shopping plaza that contains Trader Joe’s and Burlington Coat Factory at 300 Andover St. on the west end and at Walter Road near the Century House on the east side.

Access to Route 114 was also blocked from Gates Road and Ralph Road in Danvers and Mt. Pleasant Drive in Peabody.

It is the second time in less than two months that the same stretch of road has been closed because utility poles had fallen in the road. Poles also crashed to the road in early December when a driver left the road and crashed into a pole.

In addition to the Peabody Municipal Light Plant, National Grid and a crew from the state Department of Environmental Protection emergency response team was also at the scene.