Route 309. Center street in Tamaqua is closed after a box truck snapped off a utility pole in the one hundred block.

Tamaqua police report the truck was traveling north when it struck the pole as the wires lowered across the roadway a southbound tractor trailer came in contact with the wires ripping them down with the pole flying and snapping back and forth across the road. Tamaqua police stopped the box truck after fleeing the scene in Coaldale.

Traffic is backed up in both directions on Route 309 for miles due to it being a main corridor through Schuylkill County into Lehigh County. Area fire police maintained traffic control at the scene shutting down the roadway and detouring traffic. COPYRIGHT LARRY/NEFF SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS