Cerrillos closed downtown for hours from downed power line
Jun. 19—A short stretch of Cerrillos Road remained closed Wednesday evening as crews worked to repair a downed power line that was discovered in the early hours of the morning just south of the road's intersection with Paseo de Peralta.
Crews were working to restore the line late Wednesday afternoon. Santa Fe police Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said officers were hoping to reopen the road to traffic by Wednesday evening; however the road was still closed as of about 8:30 p.m.
He said police had not yet determined the cause of the downed lines Wednesday afternoon.
"It is unknown if a high-profile vehicle came in contact with the lines or if the pole was deteriorated and gave way," Valdez said.
The incident caused a power outage for 365 customers of Public Service Company of New Mexico that lasted about 30 minutes, PNM spokesman Eric Chavez wrote in an email.
Chavez wrote the line was snagged and pulled down by a vehicle and that it was not an electrical line but a "joint use line," adding the incident affected one of the utility's attached poles.
The city of Santa Fe issued an alert notification at 2:43 a.m. warning of the closure "due to downed power lines."
Earlier this month, an hourslong outage in Santa Fe disrupted power for more than 10,000 PNM customers at its peak. During that outage, traffic lights were out on Cerrillos Road and St. Francis Drive for several hours.
Chavez said the June 11 outage was caused by lightning.
About 2,000 people in Santa Fe also lost power early Wednesday evening, including in the area of Paseo de Peralta affected by last week's outage. Most of them had been restored by 7:30 p.m. As of about 8:45 p.m., power was still out for 381 PNM customers in the area near the Cross of the Martyrs and 208 in a residential area near Herb Martinez Park. PNM estimated power would be restored in those areas by 10:45 p.m.
