SEQUIM — A section of bike lane on North Seventh Avenue will remain off limits until repairs are made following a water main break Thursday.
A crack stretching about 10 feet along the bottom of an 8-inch water pipe between West Spruce Street and West Fir Street pumped out some 500,000 gallons of water in three hours, flooding surrounding streets, city officials said.
About 200 linear feet of asphalt on North Seventh Avenue between West Spruce Street and West Fir Street must be repaired after the water caused the road to separate and “float,” said Matt Klontz, city engineer.
The road is open to traffic, but a section of the bike lane, mid-block, on the east side of North Seventh Street likely will remain closed until the repairs can be made or the pavement is patched.
“Fortunately, breaks of this size are unusual,” Klontz said.
The cost and schedule for the repair has yet to be determined.
Thursday night
The crack unleashed municipal water at about 10 p.m. Thursday.
By 11 p.m., city crews and local law enforcement had closed the street and were working to locate the source of the flooding.
By 1 a.m., the water was shut off and the break was isolated, Klontz said.
As water is conveyed via the water main, the pressure often causes the pipes to vibrate, Klontz said.
The ongoing vibration against large 4-inch rocks found in the pipe bedding at the location of the crack is thought to be the cause of the break.
“The good news is the [escaped] water was contained from curb to curb,” Klontz said.
A silver lining is the information city officials gleaned from the flooding.
The water lost was flowing at a rate of about 3,000 gallons per minute, which is the “fire flow requirement,” Klontz said.
“The water was delivered at the rate that it’s designed to — so in a strange way, we were able to validate the fire flow,” he said.
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Alana Linderoth is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.