UPDATE: Truck Crushes Westport Water Main; Wilton Road Reopens

Update: Dec. 7

Wilton Road is now open to two-way traffic. Construction crews worked throughout the day and night Thursday until about 1:30 a.m. Friday to resolve the water main break, according to Westport Police Lieutenant David Farrell. 

Original story:

The portion of Wilton Road between Post Road and Kings Highway North may be closed for days after a truck delivering steel crushed a water main beneath a fire hydrant, according to a Connecticut Department of Transportation traffic engineer.

Engineers evaluated the damage early Thursday afternoon and hoped that the gas line and sewer line had not been undermined as well, something that they will not be able to determine until the road has been completely ripped up.

"There is some serious damage,” said Ernie Lagoja, a DOT engineer. “They are going to have to replace a few hundred feet of road, curb to curb.”

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The fire hydrant was initially removed in order for large trucks to be able to access the steel-frame building that is being built across the street from Save the Children. The hydrant was then covered by a collar, and a piece of ply wood was placed over that, Lagoja said. High-pressure water flooded Wilton Road when the driver drove over the ply wood and crushed the pipe.

“They may fine the driver and put a claim in,” Lagoja said.

Westporters may have to settle for a temporary repair as O & G Industries Inc., the local asphalt plant in Bridgeport, announced they will close their operation next Friday and that it will remain closed until warmer weather arrives in 2013, Lagoja said. The pipes should be replaced and the water will be turned back on by this evening, but to get a contract settled and have the road repaved by the end of next week is a stretch, according to Lagoja. There will likely be a 200-foot temporary patch of asphalt running down the center of the road for months.

“Our primary concern right now is getting water restored to these buildings,” Lagoja said. “You can’t work if you don’t have water.”

Aquarion Water Company has contracted John J. Brennan Construction Co. to replace the damaged pipes, which sit five feet below the road. Lagoja said two 80-foot water pipes will most likely have to be replaced. The DOT will then hire Berns Conctruction Co. Inc. to fully repave the road in the spring.