Power down - Was latest M5 closure entirely necessary?
Yesterday's incident by the Portbury junction also closed the A369 between Portishead and Bristol, leaving thousands of commuters stuck in traffic jams.
The motorway was shut between Burnham-on-Sea and Avonmouth throughout the morning rush hour and police advised drivers not to take to the roads in North Somerset unless their journeys were "absolutely necessary".
Avon and Somerset police said the decision to shut the motorway was taken in the interests of public safety.
But they were accused of overreacting by the chairman of Portishead Town Council after drivers in the town found themselves unable to get out.
The chaos started at 4.20am when a red Nissan pick-up truck left the motorway and hit an electricity pole, which was snapped in half by the accident and held in the air by the overhead lines which hang over the motorway.
The driver, who has not been named, suffered a suspected neck injury.
He was taken to hospital along with two passengers, who suffered minor injuries.
Police said the 11,000-volt cable was at 90 degrees to the motorway, with the wire running across the north and southbound carriageways and the Portbury Hundred.
Police spokesman Steve Game said that while the cable had not actually fallen on to the motorway it was in a precarious position and the roads were closed until the pole was replaced and the wire made safe.
About 350 homes lost power supplies when the current was switched off by supply company Western Power to allow engineers to repair the damage.
All three lanes of the southbound M5 and two lanes of the northbound M5 were reopened by noon along with junction 19 at Gordano.
The Portbury Hundred road between Portishead and Gordano was reopened at 11.10am.
Many commuters trying to get out of Portishead were forced to turn round and go home after the town became gridlocked.
Alternative routes out – including Naish Hill and Bristol Road – ground to a halt and people could not get to work, school or appointments.
Builder Mark Smith, 48, was on his way to Bristol to work and after 40 minutes sat in queuing traffic, abandoned his journey.
Mr Smith, of Portishead, said: "I cannot believe such a large stretch of the motorway has been closed off just because a pole has come down near the Portishead junction.
"Surely they could have kept the motorway open.
"Each time there is an incident on the M5 it causes major traffic chaos in Portishead.
"It has been made doubly worse this time because the Portbury Hundred was closed.
"I decided that making the journey just wasn't worth it so turned round and went back home."
Sue Robinson, 51, of Portishead, works in the town and said: "All roads out of Portishead were at a standstill – the town was completely gridlocked and it was at its worst during the rush hour. People eventually got out, but it took them hours."
Hundreds of students from around Bristol, Pill and Portbury had an unexpected day off from Gordano School after their bus service, run by Eurotaxis, was cancelled.
About 250 children were unable to get to class, along with about 20 staff who travel to the school from South Wales and other areas.
Staff at the 1,873-pupil school kept students in an extended registration period until 10am while arrangements were made.
Students whose regular teachers could not get to the school were gathered in the main hall where lessons were supervised by available staff.
Head teacher Graham Silverthorne also got stuck in the traffic and it took him more than an hour to make the usual 20 minute journey to school from his home in north Bristol.
Mr Silverthorne said: "We opened the school as usual, as about 80 per cent of our staff were able to get in.
"We extended the registration period to 10am while arrangements we made before lessons began as normal.
"About 250 students from areas including Shirehampton, Bedminster and Avonmouth, were unable to get to school because the bus service was cancelled.
"Our kitchens were operational and we wanted to keep it a case of 'business as usual' despite the traffic disruption."
Hundreds of students were also unable to get to lessons at St Katherine's School in Pill.
Only 220 out of the 904 students made it to class yesterday after Eurotaxis and North Somerset Coaches were unable to operate school routes.
Business manager Laurence Frewin said: "All of our staff were in school before the end of lesson one at just before 10am.
"However, only about a quarter of our students were able to get into school.
"We have plans in place for incidents like this and we continue as normal with lessons and just rationalised each faculty."
Paul Davis, managing director of Parsons Jewellers in The Mall Bristol, in Broadmead, said: "I left my car at Weston railway station in the end and got a train to Temple Meads.
"It took my wife three-and-a-half hours to get to Aztec West."
North Somerset Council suspended roadworks on major routes through the district and cancelled waste collections to try to avoid congestion on diversion routes.
Earlier this month council chiefs said they were considering turning off all traffic lights on the A370 between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare to ease congestion on the busy route when there was an incident on the M5. But yesterday, traffic lights on the A370 remained operational.
Planned drainage repairs to Naish Hill were also suspended because of the disruption.
North Somerset Council deputy leader and executive member for highways, Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, said: "We instructed utility companies and our contractors to remove any works along the A38 and A370.
"Some residents in the area may find that their waste and recycling was not collected.
"What wasn't collected today will be collected tomorrow."
Portishead Town Council chairman, Councillor David Pasley criticised the police for closing off the motorway – saying they over-reacted to the situation.
Mr Pasley said: "Once again the police have totally over reacted to this incident and I cannot understand their justification for closing off both the northbound and southbound carriageways of the motorway – it's utterly crazy.
"Whoever makes this decision to close the motorway following incidents such as these needs to be more realistic about the impact of such a closure on local communities."
But Assistant Chief Constable John Long said: "Decisions to close the motorway are never taken lightly as police officers are aware of the impact this has on local people who are trying to get to work, drop children off at school and go about their daily business.
"However, the power cable presented a hazard to motorists and in the interests of public safety the decision was taken to close the road.
"We are grateful for the patience and understanding shown by motorists and are pleased that by working with our agency partners we have able to minimise the disruption and re-open the motorway ahead of schedule."
Emergency repairs were carried out by electricity company Southern Power.
The incident is the latest in a series which have seen problems on the M5 paralyse roads in North Somerset.
In August the M5 was closed by police at Avonmouth Bridge when a man climbed over the parapet and later fell 100ft to his death.
The closure led to tailbacks of more than 30 miles at the start of the August Bank Holiday weekend.
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