Stretch reopened Saturday afternoon
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
A section of Carter Road, which is a major commuter road, reopened at 3:30 p.m. Saturday after being closed for two days.
The road was closed between Elm Ridge Road and Pennington Rocky-Hill Road (Cherry Valley Road) as a result of seven utility poles coming down, or nearly down, early on the afternoon of Feb. 12.
Hopewell Township police Chief George Meyer said that, at 12:46 p.m. Feb. 12, officers responded to a report of a pole down on a truck on Carter Road. The officers found a total of seven utility poles fully down or leaning severely. One pole, with electric wires attached, was on top of a dump truck with the driver still inside.
Officers learned that Eugene Koch, 65, of Stony Brook Road, Hopewell, was traveling north on Carter Road, north of Cleveland Road, when he saw a utility pole snap and start to fall. He tried to avoid that pole, but it struck his truck. Before he was able to stop, the next pole came down on his truck.
Mr. Koch remained safely inside his vehicle. He was uninjured. Once representatives of Public Service Electric & Gas Co. arrived and determined it was safe to do so, Mr. Koch exited his vehicle.
The utility poles involved were larger than average and carry high voltage feed wires.

