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Traffic Diverted, Child Hurt During Water Line Repairs

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 09:04 CDT

By The Paducah Sun, Ky.

May 16--Lone Oak Road at Hannan Plaza will remain closed this morning, and lane usage will probably be restricted the rest of the week, according to Paducah Water General Manager Glen Anderson.

A 70-year-old water main split open early Monday morning and flooded the road, closing it from Berger Road to the side entrance of the CVS store near the busy U.S. 45/U.S. 62 intersection at Jackson Street. The underground pressure was so great that the water pushed the soil up and created a "bubble" of asphalt in the northbound lane from Lone Oak. Asphalt sank in the southbound lane.

The flooding displaced the 23,300 motorists who use that portion of Lone Oak Road daily, according to Kentucky Department of Highways figures.

Water employee Jimmy Grimm was the first of at least 10 repair workers to arrive at 3:30 a.m. He said the water was flowing heavily out of a large hole two feet deep.

An 18-foot section of 24-inch pipe split around 3 a.m., and the road had to be dug up to replace that pipe section, Anderson said. Crews worked into the night Monday.

Grimm expected the issuance of boil-water notices to homes in the Forest Hills subdivision. He guessed 10 homes there were without water Monday afternoon.

The boil notice is "kind of like a thunderstorm watch -- more of a precautionary measure," he said.

The south lane of the highway and possibly the middle turn lane could reopen today, Anderson said. However, workers will be present and traffic will move much slower through the two lanes. After water crews fix the pipe, the highway department will repair the road.

Paducah police are detouring traffic and asking people to avoid congesting the area. Northbound vehicles were being funneled onto Berger Road to Old Mayfield Road. Until two lanes reopen, traffic from Jackson Street and U.S. 62 (Alben Barkley Drive) may not turn south onto Lone Oak Road. All tractor-trailer traffic at Interstate 24 was still being diverted Monday night.

A child was injured in a wreck as a result of people trying to find ways around the backed-up traffic.

The wreck happened just before noon when Fred Ries of Paducah rear-ended a car driven by Jamesha Jackson, 21, of Paducah, according to police. She had three child passengers. One, Otis McKinney, 12, was riding in the front seat and said he had neck and back pains. An ambulance was called and Officer Jodie Higdon said McKinney may have been taken to the hospital. Neither Western Baptist nor Lourdes had a record of McKinney being admitted.

Ries said he was following the Jackson vehicle out of the CVS parking lot, taking a right turn onto Lone Oak Road. He said the other car stopped quickly.

CVS manager Brian Wilson said business was slow, but traffic outside was heavy. Many vehicles turned off U.S. 62 and cut through the Grainger Supply Co. and CVS parking lots, only to find they still couldn't turn toward Lone Oak.

"We usually get all the nurses and teachers before work, but not today," Wilson said. "And for the day after Mother's Day, the photo lab is pretty slow. It's usually busy."

At the A&W restaurant across Lone Oak Road just before noon, manager Andrea Austin also saw fewer morning people. "Normally, we have a little bit of a pop" at 10 a.m., she said. Austin was one of the many who was detoured coming to Paducah from Lone Oak. "I wish they'd get it fixed so our business will come back."

Grimm joined five other Paducah Water employees for lunch at A&W. Grimm said that in his 19 years with the utility, he had seen two other major water mains break under Lone Oak Road. But usually, it's the result of the pipes quickly expanding and contracting when the weather quickly changes. No one knew why the line broke Monday, but the workers did note that it was an old pipe.

Grimm said a six-inch tap water pipe next to the 24-inch broken line had to be disconnected, causing nearby residents to lose water, which should be back on today.

But Anderson said complete repairs could take a few days, partly because the underground flooded area has to be excavated to determine if the there's enough soil underneath the road to serve as a base.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Paducah Sun, Ky.

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Source: The Paducah Sun

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