Crews Working To Repair Downtown Water Main Break; Access To Federal Courthouse Parking Ramp Restricted
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Crews continue to examine the extent of a water main break that closed a block of Hanover Street Monday evening.
The break happened around 5 p.m. between West Pratt and West Lombard streets.
Crews were able to get control of the break but the cleanup lasted into Monday night. It's expected to create some headaches for downtown commuters Tuesday morning.
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The 100 block of South Charles Street is without water; so far, no other areas are affected, the city's public works department tweeted.
Crews worked to shut off a valve on Hanover Street near Pratt Street to assess the stability of the northern half of Hanover, DPW said.
Staff at the nearby federal courthouse will be able to get to a nearby parking garage Tuesday morning, but the public will not have access.
"We will know more about water service and access for 100 S. Charles later tonight," the department said. "We hope the problem is just a valve, and not a pipe that needs to be replaced. Also, we will check overnight for voids under the Hanover Street roadway."
Commuters like Sandy Vanagas said the fixes can't come soon enough.
"Hopefully they fix it fast, I (can) get in the car, everything's good and I go on," she said.
Others like Ricardo Rowe and Mario Lloyde were stuck downtown as their vehicles sat blocked inside a parking ramp.
"(I) may try to catch a happy hour or take an Uber back to Columbia," Lloyde said.
"I'd rather be stuck here and get an Uber (to) go home than have something happen while I'm trying to exit the parking garage," Rowe said.
At the same time, a plume of brown-colored in the Inner Harbor.
The break comes just two months after and two blocks away from a massive sinkhole caused by a water main break that snarled traffic downtown for weeks.
Still, it was another traffic headache for downtown commuters who were already impacted by a four-block evacuation and road closures earlier Monday due to a suspicious vehicle.
