SEVERN Trent engineers have repaired a burst water main in Hylton Road – but the water company has warned motorists could face delays for the rest of the week.

The main, near the junction with Henwick Road, burst at about 11am on Monday.

Severn Trent was forced to close the road initially, although it has since re-opened with three way traffic lights currently controlling traffic.

The company said the job was unusually complex because there are two water pipes close together under the road.

Neil Hurcomb of Severn Trent said: “Firstly, we’d like to say sorry – we know that Hylton Road is busy.

“We don’t close the road or carry out work unless it is absolutely essential.”

However, he said although the repair was complete, more work had to be done before traffic lights could be removed.

“To allow us to sort out the burst water pipe, we’ve worked closely with Worcestershire County Council. We’ll continue to work 24 hours a day and now the repair is complete, we need to check the ground beneath it is safe,” he said.

“We’ll then relay the road surface. While we do that, three way traffic lights are in place and we expect – by the end of the week – it’ll be open as usual.

“We’d like to say thanks for people’s patience and understanding.”

He said they had to close Hylton Road for a time on Monday as they made sure the leak had not made the road unsafe for traffic.

“We couldn’t shut off the damaged water pipe straight away, because that would have meant a lot of homes might have been without water,” he said.

Severn Trent crews worked through Monday night, digging through more than a metre of tarmac.

“Because two water pipes run in the same place, we had to dig deeper, to understand which pipe was affected,” said Mr Hurcombe.

The company said the incident was not related to previous roadworks in the area.

 


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