Salem water crews kept busy with breaks on Allen, Benton roads Thursday
SALEM — A water line break on Allen Road late Wednesday affected residents and businesses north of town through Thursday, Utilities Superintendent Don Weingart said,
The break occurred in 1400 block of Allen Road and extended north to Beechwood Road and Countryside Drive.
A second break occurred on Benton Road (state Route 14) just south of the old Nease Chemical property that is undergoing remedial action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“A valve broke affecting a single line to Countryside Drive and Beechwood Road,” Weingart said explaining that crews went out last night to fix it but then the pipe that held the valve on broke.
“The bad thing,” Weingart said,was the water department crews “had to move cautiously” because of an underground cable which was identified as being in the area. They later learned was it mis-marked.
The water line on Allen Road was connected at 1:30 p.m., Weingart who responded to the scene, said, just before they filled in the unstable ground around it and flushed the line out.
A second leak at Pennsylvania Avenue that ran west on Allen Road was also located and fixed.
Weingart noted there was a third water-line break in the 1200 block of Benton Road which washed out a small section along the side of the road in the state right-of-way.
“We have to get flaggers out there,” Weingart said due to the amount of traffic on state Route 14 where crews were working past dark.
lshields@salemnews.net