PORT ANGELES — Marine Drive and Tumwater Truck Route in west Port Angeles opened fully to traffic Wednesday afternoon after crews repaired roadway that was damaged by a water main break Monday afternoon.
Access to Cedar Street from Marine Drive, the intersection where the break occurred, will remain closed until Thursday morning.
Our earlier report
PORT ANGELES — City officials issued an emergency declaration Tuesday following the break of a 10-inch water main on Marine Drive.
It paved the way for Lakeside Industries to start an estimated $125,000 in repairs related to the break that happened Monday afternoon, city Public Works and Facilities Director Craig Fulton said.
Fulton, saying the cast-iron water main is 74 years old, attributed the breach to its age.
“They rust,” he said. “I can’t tell you what the exact reason was. Age is the primary factor and degradation of the pipe over time.”
Break repaired
The rupture has been fixed, but its impact has rippled across heavily traveled routes, inhibiting vehicle access to the city’s industrial core while Marine Drive is repaired.
Lane restrictions for portions of Cedar Street, Tumwater Truck Route and Marine Drive to Hill Street could end sometime tonight or by Thursday morning, once repairs are completed, Fulton predicted Tuesday afternoon, urging non-essential traffic to avoid the area.
“We don’t know what to expect once we go underground and remove asphalt,” Fulton said.
Mayor Dan Di Guilio and City Manager Dan McKeen signed off on the proclamation, which was to be presented to the City Council at the body’s regular meeting to ratify the declaration Tuesday night.
The declaration allowed city officials to bypass lengthy bidding procedures and immediately hire Lakeside Industries, which Fulton said has the only asphalt batch plant in the area.
Fulton said the street repairs will allow emergency vehicles faster, unfettered access to an area that includes the city’s industrial sector, the west side of Port Angeles Harbor, Nippon Paper Industries USA and Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles on Ediz Hook.
As of Tuesday, those vehicles could not “just go down Marine Drive,” Fulton said.
Port of Port Angeles spokeswoman Holly Hairell said the traffic disruption forced port officials to adjust traffic patterns for truck drivers entering Terminal 3, where a log ship was being loaded.
Water cut off
Terminal 3 was without water for 24 hours, pushing the port to bring in portable toilets for workers.
By Tuesday afternoon, Lakeside was conducting under-surface road repairs caused by the break.
Fulton said the estimate does not include city labor and equipment costs to repair the pipeline, a figure unavailable Tuesday.
City workers also repaired a second, smaller 2-inch water-line break at Fourth and Jones streets, but Marine Drive was the main area of concern.
Clawed excavators were beginning to peel back heaved-up areas of the road Tuesday following the break in the pipe buried 4 to 5 feet deep where Cedar Street straddles Marine Drive, Fulton said.
The break that gushed water into the street also turned water in some city customers’ toilets and sinks a rusty brown color — but did not pose a danger.
“Pipes and water have been chlorinated, and discoloration that is seen in the water is from rust that has lodged in the inside of the pipes,” Fulton said.
Much of the damage caused by the break was invisible to the naked eye.
When a 10-inch pipeline blows water under high pressure, it pushes up on asphalt, and the soil underneath is pushed away, forming voids.
“It’s a major service line that impacts a lot of customers, and it has significant destructive forces on roads,” Fulton said.
Traffic impacts
Here’s the impact on key thoroughfares heavily used by industrial and non-commercial drivers in west Port Angeles:
■ Part of Cedar Street is closed, including a hilly portion that ends at the intersection with Marine Drive.
■ Marine Drive is closed to all traffic from Cedar Street to Tumwater Truck Route.
■ Tumwater Truck Route is closed to non-commercial traffic going south to north but remains open to all traffic north to south.
■ Commercial and industrial delivery trucks, including semi-trailers, will have access in both directions to and from Marine Drive along the truck route to the truck route intersection.
“We caution folks not to use the truck route or Marine Drive, especially residential drivers,” Fulton said.
■ Marine Drive from the truck route to Hill Street is open to industrial delivery vehicles including semi-trailers.
Fulton said city officials prefer that non-commercial vehicles use Hill Street to access Nippon and the Coast Guard station rather than Marine Drive.
■ Marine Drive is open to all vehicles from Hill Street to Tumwater, where drivers must turn south onto Tumwater.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
