CUMMING - A Tuesday morning powerline and pole issue in Forsyth County caused quite a traffic mess on Old Atlanta Road in the south end of the county.
Forsyth County Fire Division Chief Jason Shivers said the incident happened south of Windermere Parkway and north of James Burgess Road. That's near the school complex that includes Lambert High School and Sharon Elementary.
Shivers said there was no obvious cause for the incident.
"There was nothing particular that precipitated this. There was not a storm or a fire or a wreck of any kind that caused damage," Shivers said.
"It was just a malfunction in a power system on a pole, causing for an arc that began to burn through a wooden power pole," Shivers added.
The traffic issue resulted from still energized power lines that fell across Old Atlanta Road, prompting the closure.
Shivers said crews with Sawnee EMC were on the scene throughout the morning routing power around the pole, restoring it to the thousands of business and residential customers.
In addition to commuters, school traffic was also impacted. Shivers said several students had been dropped off on either side of the incident, essentially leaving them unable to walk to school.
"The school and the sheriff's office school resource officers worked together to establish basically a bus bridge to get some transportation in place and bus those students into the schools safely," Shivers said.
The roadway was opened just before 10:00 a.m. While EMC crews will have to replace the power pole and some equipment on it, Shivers said it was not expected to impact traffic.
