Traffic crawled through the intersection at Exchange and Main streets in Athol Wednesday around 7 a.m. The DPW delivered a 4-way stop sign to prevent a free-for-all during the early power outage that affected 1,226 customers.
Traffic crawled through the intersection at Exchange and Main streets in Athol Wednesday around 7 a.m. The DPW delivered a 4-way stop sign to prevent a free-for-all during the early power outage that affected 1,226 customers. Credit: —ATHOL DAILY NEWS/Deborrah Porter

ATHOL — Traffic downtown was at a standstill for a time Wednesday, with motorists befuddled as the traffic lights malfunctioned on all sides of the intersection of Main and Exchange streets at 7 a.m.

Moments after the power went out, a large yellow Department of Public Works truck arrived to drop a four-way stop sign in the center as a temporary fix. Drivers observed the stop sign, taking turns slowly driving through the intersection.

A National Grid spokesman said 1,226 customers lost power. The outage was caused by an equipment failure on the cross arms of a utility pole on Pequoig Avenue. A National Grid crew was on site within a half-hour, and power was restored to some customers by 7:45 a.m. Power was mostly restored to the remaining customers by 9:30 a.m.