Light Street is reopened following water main replacement

Repairs to section of Baltimore road lasted almost five weeks

The nearly five-week closure of Light Street in downtown Baltimore after a major water main break beneath its surface last month has ended, according to the city's Department of Public Works.

The street reopened to traffic about 4 p.m. Sunday, said Kurt Kocher, a department spokesman.

It first closed July 16, when a 20-inch-wide water main dating to 1889 ruptured, buckling the street's surface between East Lombard Street and East Baltimore Street. The main had previously been labeled as a "high risk."

In assessing the damage, city officials decided to replace 570 linear feet of the main, 378 linear feet of a parallel 10-inch-wide main that dated to 1914, and 90 linear feet of a 12-inch water main under Redwood Street, the department said.

An initial repair estimate of three weeks was extended after crews determined the complexity of the city's infrastructure under Light Street, officials said.

Kocher praised city crews for repaving the street in a week's time.

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