|
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Water main breaks in Langley Park Wednesday by Elahe Izadi | Staff Writer
Brenda Ahearn⁄The Gazette Workers try to repair the street after a water main break Wednesday morning in Langley Park at the intersection of University Boulevard and Riggs Road.
|
A water main break early Wednesday morning in the middle of Riggs Road in Langley Park completely shut down the road between University Boulevard and Drexel Street. Crews began working on repairing the 24-inch main and anticipated working well into Thursday, said Mike McGill, a Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission spokesman.
Five customer accounts were affected by the Riggs Road break, including a small strip mall, a Shell gas station and the Riggs Hill condominium complex. McGill said water from other mains was directed to residents, but they experienced low water pressure.
The Langley Park break also closed the right eastbound lane of University Boulevard, between Riggs Road and 23rd Avenue, because of water damage along the roadway. Riggs Road was slumped with mud surrounding the area.
‘‘We basically had a river of water for a good four to five hours,” McGill said.
County Councilman William Campos (D-Dist. 2) of Hyattsville was at the scene of the Langley Park break, which he said was the largest in his district in over the past three years.
The cause of both breaks was an aging infrastructure, McGill said. The Riggs Road water main was built in 1950.
‘‘[That pipe] has been in service for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 58 years,” McGill said.
That break was the second to occur this week. An aging main line on Route 450 in Bladensburg burst late Monday night, and crews spent all of Tuesday repairing the main and reopening the road. Route 450 had two eastbound lane closures and one westbound lane closure between Route 202 and 53rd Place until Wednesday morning.
The Bladensburg water main is 85 years old, and has been repaired five times in the past three years.
‘‘That's a prime example of a pipe that, if we had more funds, we would focus on replacement rather than repairs,” McGill said.
This year, WSSC commissioners failed to agree on an additional fee of about $20 on customers' monthly bills. It would have paid for infrastructure improvements.
E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.
|
