PORT ANGELES — A water main break that gushed water at the industrial intersection of Marine Drive and Cedar Street on Monday afternoon and turned water for some city customers a rust-brown color has been repaired, Public Works Director Craig Fulton said this morning.
Fulton said some lane closures in west Port Angeles are likely to continue through Wednesday to repair heaved-up areas of Marine Drive following the approximately 2:30 p.m. rupture of a 60-year-old, 10-inch cast-iron pipe buried 4 to 5 feet deep, Fulton said.
But there is no boil-water advisory for city water customers whose faucet and toilet water flowed brown following the break, he said.
“Pipes and water have been chlorinated, and discoloration that is seen in the water is from rust that has lodged in the inside of the pipes,” Fulton said.
“Residences and commercial water customers should run their water in their buildings until it flows clear, and the city is doing flushing of the surrounding pipes to accelerate the clearing of the water.”
Fulton said repairs are likely to cost about $100,000.
Here’s the impact on key thoroughfares heavily used by industrial and residential drivers in west Port Angeles:
■ Marine Drive is closed to all traffic from Cedar Street to the Tumwater truck route.
■ The Tumwater truck route is closed to non-commercial traffic going south to north but remains open to all traffic north to south.
■ Commercial and industrial delivery trucks, including semi-trailers, will have access in both directions to and from Marine Drive along the truck route to the truck route intersection.
“We caution folks not to use the truck route or Marine drive, especially residential drivers,” Fulton said.
■ Marine Drive from the Tumwater truck route to Nippon Paper Industries USA and Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles on Ediz Hook is open to industrial delivery vehicles including semi-trailers.
Fulton said city officials prefer that non-commercial vehicles use Hill Street to access Nippon and the Coast Guard station rather than Marine Drive.
■ Marine Drive is open to all vehicles from Hill Street to Tumwater, where drivers must turn onto Tumwater.
Fulton said repairs will likely last through Wednesday to patch sections of Marine Drive that heaved up upward of 12 inches.
“All that soil under the roads gets washed out, then you have voids under the asphalt,” Fulton said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
