LEWISTON — Freezing and thawing may be the culprit behind a broken 12-inch water pipe that shut down Main Street traffic Thursday afternoon at Ware Street.
Public Works Director David Jones said the leak shut down Main Street traffic for seven hours Thursday.
“It could be the soil moving from the frost,” Jones said. “It’s that time of year, when frost starts coming out and moves the soil around. But the pipe was actually buried below the frost line. So we don’t know.”
The leak was reported to the city about 2:30 p.m., he said. Witnesses reported seeing water bubbling up through the pavement.
Crews covered the crack with a full circle clamp, which sealed the leak.
“That was a enough,” he said. “It circles the pipe and keeps the leak from coming out. So we didn’t have to replace a section of pipe.”
Water service was restored to customers by 7:30 p.m., he said. The road was reopened by 9:30 p.m.
The work forced the city to shut down service to 25 customers between Mountain Avenue and Russell Street on Main Street.
Jones said his crews are watching the roads for more breaks now, as temperatures warm.
“We still have 4 feet of frost in the ground,” Jones said. “It’s getting pretty late in the year to have that much frost in the ground still. It’s starting to come out now, so I suspect we’ll see more as the frost comes out more.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.