(12/16/08) - Traffic is being maintained
around Akron General Medical Center where a water line broke at 7 this morning. No
one was injured when the line broke under a sidewalk at Wabash and Cedar streets in front
of the AGMC campus. Akron Public Utility crews had the water shut off within 30 minutes
and took control of the situation with Akron police and fire crews on the scene. Greg
Loesch, an engineer in public utilities, says the hole in the walk way is six feet deep.
He estimates repairs to the walk and the water line will take several days.
"We’re fortunate," Loesch said, "that the line wasn’t
underneath the street. If it were, we’d be looking at a much more serious
situation."
The cast iron pipe was installed in 1950, according to City of Akron records. Loesch
says cast iron becomes brittle with age. That, combined with the extreme and rapid drop in
temperature since yesterday could have contributed and caused the break, but engineers
can’t yet be certain.
Loesch added that water did flow from the sidewalk into an office building window well
on the southeast corner of Wabash and Cedar. City crews aren’t certain what is kept
in that room or how much damage may have been sustained.
END
