Broken pipe snarls traffic
Bottleneck at Crowchild, 33rd Ave. S.W.
Monday commuters are being told to stay away from the southern end of Crowchild Trail after a weekend water main break shut down the major thoroughfare southbound near 33rd Avenue S.W.
The city activated its municipal emergency plan Sunday, bringing together agencies to deal with two other water main incidents in the southwest.
On Sunday night, crews found the two-foot pipe break under Crowchild.
All three lanes of southbound Crowchild Trail will be excavated, and the road is not expected to reopen until late Monday evening.
City spokesman Sean Somers said the 50,000 Calgarians who regularly use the southbound lanes of Crowchild near 33rd Avenue should find different routes.
All southbound lanes are shut until the cast-iron pipe is fixed. Northbound lanes should not be affected.
“What we are trying to do is ease the problem by telling people to avoid the area,” he said.
One restricted lane will be open between Bow Trail and 33rd Avenue S.W. to accommodate local traffic, buses and emergency vehicles. All others are asked to find an alternative route.
Signal lights will be adjusted on roads like 17th Avenue S.W., Richmond Road and 37th Street to help alleviate any troubles into the downtown core that may occur Monday morning, Somers said.
On Saturday night, a 16-inch feeder main break on Crowchild Trail shut down all southbound lanes and had all but one northbound lane temporarily closed.
Later, a sanitary main was blocked in the Glenmore area but was quickly fixed.
The city also had to deploy water trucks to the 1900 block of 28th Avenue S.W. after a water main broke and cut off access to running water for 40 homes.
Those repairs are scheduled for Monday morning.
Resident Rick Malone said he noticed the taps were running dry when he was getting ready Sunday morning.
“We had some bottled water in the house. I used it to make coffee. I’m keeping my priorities straight,” he said with a laugh.
But Malone, who uses Crowchild Trail regularly, said he’s more concerned about his Monday morning commute on Crowchild: “I’ve got to stay the hell away from there.”
Duty inspector Paul Stacey said while the cold weather is an aggravating factor, the city also has to do “exploratory work” to find out where the water is coming from.
“They’ve got to dig, fix, backfill and repave the roads, and that’s going to take some time ... motorists are not going to be happy.”
A passing motorist first noticed water gushing up from the side of the road while driving on Crowchild Trail at around 10:15 p.m. Saturday.
By the time the first responding officer showed up, the water was so high it was lapping at the doors of his police cruiser, Stacey said.
“The water was pooling on the southbound lane, then crossing over to the northbound lanes,” he said. “It was freezing so fast, we were noticing some cars were starting to fishtail when mov- ing across the ice.” He said some officers even reported seeing water shooting out of a manhole.
The cause of the leak has not been confirmed, but Stacey said main breaks can happen when the weather turns from warm to cold quickly.
Lilla Foote, who awoke to find no running water in her home, said she wished the city made more of an effort to notify affected residents.
She said the city gave residents about 20 minutes to fill up containers with water to use for the day, and also sent water trucks.
“It’s just one of those things,” added neighbour Andrew Mather, who got by with a supply of bottled water. “You learn to live with being able to turn on the tap to get water. It’s a bit of an inconvenience.”