The gusty winds are believed to be responsible for a power outage that turned off the traffic signals at 75th Street and Metcalf Avenue late Tuesday afternoon in Overland Park, prompting a mile-long traffic jam on one of the city’s most-used roadways. Evergy’s online outage map showed that approximately 774 customers were without power in the area of the busy intersection at around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Several businesses in the area were forced to close because they didn’t have power for their computers to work. As of 5:30 p.m., northbound traffic on Metcalf was at a crawl, backed up to 83rd Street, while southbound traffic was backed up to 71st Street. Eastbound traffic on 75th Street was stacked back to Robinson Street, and westbound was back to nearly Lamar Avenue. Evergy’s website shows that the outage was first reported at about 4:20 p.m. and that repairs are a “work in progress.” The estimated restoration time is 6 p.m. Update: Around 6 p.m., the traffic lights at Metcalf and 75th began working again, and Evergy’s outage map online showed most outages in the area around the intersection had been addressed.
Source: Johnson County Post
