Water Main

City public works crews are still working to determine the extent of problems from a sinkhole on East Monument Street, just east of Johns Hopkins Hospital, where residents and businesses are expected to be without natural gas for weeks. A six-inch water main broke at the 2300 block of East Monument Street between Bradford and Montford within the existing sinkhole that left least 15 businesses and second-story apartments without natural gas service on Wednesday. Discharge from the broken main increased the collapse, causing 60 units between 2322 and 2342 East Monument Street to lose water until Sunday, according to a department of public works statement.

The closure of Light Street didn't heavily disrupt the flow of baseball fans to Camden Yards on Tuesday night for the Orioles' first home game since a burst water main shut the street section last week, fans and officials said. Whether that will remain true for the team's next five games — which are all at home, and on busier days of the week — wasn't clear. Fans from around the region who were streaming into the stadium just before the 7:05 p.m. start to the Orioles' game against the Tampa Bay Rays reported no problems getting into town, whether they came in from the north or south, via car or public transportation.

As of 9 a.m. Friday, traffic was slow on I-95 south near Eastern Avenue in Baltimore City, due to an accident. Traffic was slow on I-895 near the Steel Bridge, due to construction activity. Light Street was closed between Baltimore and Lombard streets due to water main repairs. Bus routes on Light Street have been diverted due to the street closing. Some streets were closed around the Mount Royal Cultural District in Baltimore due to the Artscape festival this weekend. Bus routes on Charles Street have been diverted due to that close of portions of that street.

Art Shapiro was motoring south on Eutaw in his maintenance truck when the call came across his radio: Head to Lombard and Light streets, where a water leak needed attention. Baltimore's chief of utilities maintenance figured the call, around rush hour Monday, was for just another of the dozens of ruptures he and his crew of nearly 500 deal with every day in their effort to keep the city's complex and aging water-delivery system running. As he rounded a corner, though, he saw snarled traffic, police tape and a sure sign he was dealing with something bigger - a gash in an artery that supplies much of downtown.

City crews focused on connecting temporary water lines and clearing damaged areas of Light Street in downtown Baltimore on Wednesday in the beginning stages of a large repair operation following Monday's water main break. "One of the main concerns today was stabilization and safety, so we had to make sure that the gas lines and electric lines were protected," said Kurt Kocher, a city public works spokesman. Crews excavated stretches of the roadway in preparation for the removal of two water mains — the 20-inch-wide pipe dating to 1889 that burst Monday and a parallel 10-inch pipe dating to 1914 — but limited the exposure of the pipes while other pressing needs like water restoration were addressed, Kocher said.

As of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, traffic was congested in downtown Baltimore, due to repairs to a broken water main at Light and Redwood streets. Light Street was closed from Fayette Street to Lombard Street, and Redwood Street was closed from Calvert Street to Light Street, due to repair work. Portions of Lombard Street also were closed near the Light and Redwood intersection. Accidents were slowing traffic on Route 100 westbound near I-95 in Howard County and Woodsdale Road near Route 924 in Abingdon.

A 120-year-old water main that broke and flooded downtown streets will disrupt traffic for at least three weeks, said city officials who reminded residents that such disruptions are frequent because of the aging infrastructure beneath Baltimore. As crews surveyed a gaping hole caused in part by a water main that burst under Light Street, other workers had been dispatched to Fells Point where another pipe broke, forcing the city to close part of Fleet Street and cutting water service for a time to about 30 businesses and homes.

Matt Bloedorn was resigned Tuesday to a commute from Fells Point that would take twice as long as usual, maybe more, as the city dealt with continued flare-ups in its underground water system. Bloedorn, a civil engineer who lives in Catonsville, said he wasn't surprised, given the region's aging — and sometimes unreliable — infrastructure. "It's inevitable," Bloedorn said. "The water system is over 100 years old. " The latest water main breaks on Light Street near East Lombard Monday evening and on Fleet Street between South Caroline and South Bond streets early Tuesday hung up traffic, forced some businesses to close early as water was cut off and others to shut down as extensive repairs got under way. Niaz Mohammad, assistant manager at the 7-Eleven at 22 Light St., said the store would lose $4,000 to $5,000 in sales each day it stays closed.

Commuters to Baltimore are likely to face heavy traffic and major delays Tuesday, after a large water main break downtown buckled the surface of Light Street and sent water gushing through Lombard and Pratt streets. Jamie Kendrick, the city's deputy transportation director, advised commuters to "think ahead, plan ahead, [and] use alternate routes" Tuesday, including Metro and light rail. "We've got a lot to find out once we've got the water shut off," Kendrick said. "This is going to be a couple of days' worth of work.