Curious About Water Main Breaks Along Route 1
WBZ
Traffic backups due to water main breaks along Route 1 in Saugus are giving some drivers a major headache.
Bob from Peabody wrote in to WBZ's Curiosity page: "It seems like every winter there are a number of water main breaks on Route 1 in Saugus. Why not just fix the old pipes under Route 1 once and for all?"
The water mains usually occur between the Kowloon Restaurant and Home Depot. There has been three problems just in 2010.
When public works director Joseph Attubato's phone rang around 2.a.m. Friday, he had a strong hunch as to why.
"Honestly what were you thinking?" "I knew it had to be Route 1," he said.
He's been calling crews out to fix them for years, but this was the third time this year crews have had to burrow under the highway to fix a broken main. It leaves nearby businesses without water.
"Life is aggravating enough without this," said Donald Wong, of the Kowloon Restaurant.
Wong says the Kowloon Restaurant was relieved to have water back on by 10 a.m.
Attubato says the pipes date back to the 1930's. But age is only part of the problem. Its location under the high speed, or passing lane is troublesome because of all that vibration on top.
The underground water main runs along the highway just on the northbound side of the guardrail.
When they widened Route 1, they never abandoned the water main and put in the breakdown lane where it was supposed to go. So that's what we've been living with for the last 40 years," he said.
He says each time there's a break it costs the town of Saugus $20,000.
The town is looking for a solution and funding.
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