Water Main

Commuters north of downtown will see major traffic disruptions Thursday, as Baltimore deals with another problem with its aging water infrastructure - this time the failure of a 90-year-old main that closed the intersection of North Charles Street and North Avenue. Public water rushed south along Charles Street all day Wednesday, buckling pavement, shuttering businesses and temporarily displacing residents in the Charles North neighborhood after a 60-inch transmission pipe broke at the East 20th Street intersection.

After another city water main break caused fast-moving water to rush down Charles Street on Wednesday, officials defended plans to spend millions to upgrade Baltimore's aging public water system. The broken pipe at North Charles and East 20th streets, just above North Avenue, marks the latest water main failure, causing road closures and headaches. "It's big and it's bad, and we need more money for water infrastructure," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said of the break. Fixing the city's infrastructure problems may not be a primary concern for most residents, she said, but it's important work.

City public works crews repaired a water main break on East Cold Spring Lane, and were repairing a second on York Road, expecting to restore water service to 43 residences Friday night. Crews continued to repair a 16-inch water main in the 4600 block of York Road that broke Thursday, but water service was expected to be restored to residences around 10 p.m. Friday night, a public works spokeswoman said. Two-way traffic remains restricted to the road's southbound lanes in the area of 41st Street and Old Cold Spring Lane.

Water service was restored by early Saturday evening to a portion of the Aberdeen area after a highway construction contractor ruptured a water main that morning, a Harford County government spokesman said Sunday. In addition to some homes and businesses losing service, the county said others experienced low pressure and discoloration of their water, the latter lasting until Monday in some instances. A contractor working for the State Highway Administration on the Route 40/715 interchange reconstruction caused the water main break, according to the county.

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.

A broken 10-inch-wide water main in Southwest Baltimore caused a sinkhole to open on Frederick Avenue near its intersection with East Lynne Avenue late Tuesday night, according to city officials. The water main was shut off quickly and Frederick Avenue was closed at the intersection, in the city's Mill Hill neighborhood, said Kurt Kocher, a public works spokesman. About 100 homes in the southwest neighborhood remained without water Wednesday, as crews arrived early to begin repairs to the pipe, he said.

A 10-inch water main broke Tuesday during repairs to the two-block stretch of Light Street downtown that has been closed to traffic since a larger pipe erupted there July 16. "The location of this main was really a surprise to everyone," said Kurt Kocher, spokesman for Baltimore's Department of Public Works. "Water just started shooting out. " The main was only one-foot below the road surface, when it was struck by a front-end loader. Pipes are usually three feet underground, he said.

Baltimore's Department of Public Works has set Aug. 20 as the tentative date to reopen a two block stretch of Light Street in downtown Baltimore, an area that has been closed to vehicles for repairs since a 20-inch water main broke on July 16. Public Works director Alfred H. Foxx on Monday announced that the repair work has passed a key hurdle with completion of the "water infrastructure renewal work," which is the replacement of sections of...