101 Freeway Shutdown For Hours In Arroyo Grande

All lanes of the 101 Freeway in Arroyo Grande were shutdown for hours Thursday night after an alleged drunk driver crashed into a power pole causing high tension power lines to fall across the freeway.

The crash happened about 6:30 p.m just North of Grand Avenue exit. Investigators told NewsChannel 3 that David Skillman, 46, was traveling eastbound on El Camino Real when it went off the road and hit the power pole at Cornwall Avenue.

The crash also stranded about 50 cars on the freeway between Grand and Oak Park until the downed power lines could be removed.

PG&E officials also told NewsChannel 3 that about 5,000 customers in the area lost power for hours. By 11 p.m., all but 53 customers had their power restored. Utility officials expect those people to get their power back on by 7 a.m.

The CHP re-opened all lanes of the freeway just before 11 p.m., but they plan to shutdown all lanes again about 3 a.m. Friday morning so PG&E crews can make repairs.

Arroyo Grande police arrested Skillman on suspicion of DUI.