Alaska News

Broken water main closes Lake Otis, snarls traffic all day long

Update: The line was fixed and Lake Otis was open on Saturday morning.

Earlier story:

A broken water main closed both lanes of Lake Otis Parkway between 36th Avenue and Northern Lights Boulevard Friday, tangling U-Med area traffic throughout the day.

The utility said a 12-inch cast iron water main broke between 4:30 and 4:40 a.m. Water flooded part of the road, leading police to reroute morning traffic.

The roadway was expected to re-open Friday night, but not before diverting rush-hour traffic, said Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility spokesman Chris Kosinski.

The cause of the break is unclear and under investigation, Kosinski said. Water was still spilling from the pipe, slowing repair efforts as of Friday afternoon.

Valves necessary to stop the flow "have not been closing or operating as they should," Kosinski said.

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The roadway should be open by Saturday morning, he said.

By KYLE HOPKINS

khopkins@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins is special projects editor of the Anchorage Daily News. He was the lead reporter on the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lawless" project and is part of an ongoing collaboration between the ADN and ProPublica's Local Reporting Network. He joined the ADN in 2004 and was also an editor and investigative reporter at KTUU-TV. Email khopkins@adn.com

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