PWSA Crews Working To Repair Water Main Break Downtown

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A water main break on Second Avenue caused some major problems for commuters this morning as the road had to be shut down.

A 16-inch water main broke near the 10th Street Bridge just after midnight.

Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority officials said they worked as quickly as possible to get crews on scene and get to work.

"A 16-inch water main is a decent sized water main, so some of the pictures I saw look like there was some substantial water," PWSA's Brendan Schubert said.

The water and overall mess forced Second Avenue to close in both directions between Brady Street and the 10th Street Bridge for several hours this morning.

It re-opened on the inbound side, but not until after the peak of rush hour. There are plans in place to help alleviate some traffic woes when everyone tries to get home from work.

"At 3 p.m. today, we will open up the lane to go outbound, so traffic will only be going outbound and we're continuing to learn and assess what happened," Schubert said.

The good news is no customers lost water.

The not so good news is traffic won't be able to go in both directions until the 75-year-old line and road are all put back together.

PWSA officials said that right now it's unclear how long it's going to take to fix this line.

At this point, drivers should find an alternate route for tonight and Friday morning's commute.

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