WOONSOCKET — A Blackstone man was hospitalized after the motor vehicle he was driving snapped two utility poles on the South Main Street Bridge early Friday.

Paul Mathias, 48, of Harris Pond Road, lost control of the vehicle on the bridge shortly after 1 a.m. Police said he was taken to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence by rescue with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The accident forced the Police Department to shut down the bridge for most of the morning while crews from National Grid were called in to replace the utility poles, said Detective Lt. Eugene Jalette. Traffic on the heavily-traveled route into the city was steered toward Transit and Front streets.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation, according to Jalette.