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Gay Street Closed Due To Water Main Break

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A moderate-sized water main break is causing some big time hassles in downtown Baltimore Wednesday night.

Derek Valcourt has details on the disruptions.

Water isn't being shut off until 5:30---just after most businesses close up for the evening. In the meantime, everything from water service to bus service to traffic around City Hall has been impacted.

It's a break in a 16-inch water main, which isn't unusual for this time of the year---but it's the location along busy Gay Street right at Saratoga that's causing such an impact.

Officials say the leak underground has undermined the integrity of the asphalt.

"In order to protect the public, we decided to shut down the street totally, so that traffic would not be at any kind of a risk of sinking in, because we're not sure just how far down the void would go," said Kurt Kocher, DPW.

According to DPW, at least 20 businesses in the area will be affected by the temporary water outage, including some major employers---including the nearby city office buildings, the Juvenile Justice Center and the Holiday Inn Express, along with some smaller, family-owned businesses like the Golden Star Carryout. Water may be restored Friday evening, officials said.

Managers there say it's not just the loss of water but the closure of Gay Street that hurt their business Wednesday.

"Tomorrow morning, that's going to throw our business off a little more," said Ronnie Lewis, Golden Star Carryout.

The section of Gay Street is an important stopping point for several major MTA bus routes. MTA officials say they will redirect around the problems. All northbound buses will go right on Lexington, left on Saratoga extended and right on Gay, then resume the regular route. All eastbound buses on Lexington that normally turn left on Gay will go straight on Lexington, left on Saratoga extended, then turn right on Gay and resume the regular route.

Officials announced on Thursday that Gay Street will remain closed through the weekend .

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