LEWISTON — City crews were vexed by a series of water main breaks Thursday in three areas along Sabattus Street.
Traffic tangled in the afternoon on outer Sabattus Street when a pair of water main breaks were discovered while construction crews were working in that area.
Traffic between Lewiston and Sabattus was limited to one lane as crews dug into the streets in at least two places to repair the breaks.
Crews work to repair water main damage on a stretch of Sabattus Street in Lewiston, not far from the Sabattus town line. Mark LaFlamme/Sun Journal
Construction crews have been working on a water main replacement project in the area between Golder Road and Fox Run Drive, a stretch that covers two-thirds of a mile.
Sometime after noon Thursday, a worker discovered water leaking in an area near a fire hydrant. A short time later, the main breaks were discovered.
The St. Laurent and Son crews did not cause the break, officials said, but only discovered the damage.
As Lewiston Public Works crews worked to replace the damaged mains, flaggers helped guide motorists through one lane of travel, causing traffic to back up in both directions.
It was not clear how long the street would be limited to one lane. St. Laurent & Son recently reported that they were halfway done with the Sabattus Street project. It was unknown how much the water main breaks would set them back.
Residents in the area reported they were without water service Thursday afternoon.
City crews were sent scrambling again early Thursday night after another pair of water mains burst in the Sabattus Street area.
At about 7 p.m., workers were sent to Stanley Street, which runs between Sabattus and Montello streets, where a broken main sent water gushing into a parking lot.
Lewiston Public Works crews prepare to dig into Stanley Street on Thursday night to repair a broken water main. Mark LaFlamme/Sun Journal
The lot behind Mandarin Buffet was washed over, although the flooding wasn’t severe enough to affect the business. City workers closed Stanley Street and began digging up the broken main. They were expecting that the work would last a few hours.
A few hours earlier, those crews had been sent to Old Greene Road where a main had burst in the area of Peter Boulevard. That damage was quickly repaired and crews were just finishing up when the Stanley Street call came in.
There was no clear link between the main breaks, although the causes were still being investigated.
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