NATCHEZ — Crews worked for nearly 24 hours Monday and Tuesday replacing a broken telephone pole and restringing telephone lines on U.S. 61 South after a series of events shut the highway down, creating long lines and headaches for local drivers.

Natchez Police Chief Daniel White said a tree along the roadway near Live Oak Drive fell on the phone lines Monday night causing them to sag above the highway. At approximately 9:30 p.m. Monday a truck hit one of the sagging lines, breaking a telephone pole and scattering electrical, cable and telephone lines across the northbound and southbound lanes of U.S. 61.

All lanes of U.S. 61 were closed between Live Oak Drive and Woodhaven Drive at the entrance to Trinity Episcopal Day School.

All traffic was diverted onto Northampton Road, which was used as a one-lane access road, alternating between northbound and southbound traffic throughout the day Tuesday.

Chief White said merging northbound and southbound lanes on Northampton Road would have increased the risk of additional accidents that would have shut down access completely; one-way road access was the safest solution, White said.

As of 8:30 p.m. crews were still working on the power lines and traffic was still being rerouted. Crews had hoped to finish installing lines by sunset, but an afternoon storm temporarily stopped work and hampered efforts to replace the lines. White said crews hoped the work would be completed by 10 p.m. at which time U.S. 61 will be reopened for traffic.

Entergy customer service manager Tim Runnels said most of the lines affected were telephone lines and that a “handful” of customers lost power throughout the incident.