LAGUNA BEACH — A man driving into town along Laguna Canyon Road on Sunday night fell asleep at the wheel and struck a power pole, knocking live wires across the roadway, authorities said.

The crash happened at 9:40 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, near 2600 Laguna Canyon Road, said Sgt. Jim Cota. The car struck a utility pole and knocked down power lines.

The crash shut the canyon road down for most of the night and closed it again early Monday.

The driver of the car suffered moderate injuries, Cota said.

The road was shut down most of Sunday night and re-opened in both directions before 3 p.m., just about 18 hours later.

On Sunday, the road was closed down for several hours after a motorcyclist traveling out of the canyon made a left turn from a residence in the 2900 block of Laguna Canyon Road and hit a car in the middle of the road, Cota said.

The motorcycle rider is still at Mission Hospital with serious injuries, Cota said.

The closure Monday is the second time in a year the road has been closed for more than eight hours because of power lines.

In the past five years, Laguna Canyon Road has been shut down 13 times due to downed power lines – four times in 2016. On Aug. 18, a single car crash into a power pole caused the road to be closed for more than eight hours.

City officials have been trying to get power lines put underground along the road for years.

Last year, workers from Southern California Edison began working in the Big Bend area of town to bury cables.

The project is part of a citywide effort to move utilities underground and remove poles that have repeatedly been struck by vehicles in single-car spinouts or multiple-vehicle crashes, sometimes leading to fires in open space along the road and road closures.