A major water main break on the Trans-Canada Highway is now under control, but crews expect repairs to continue into the evening hours.
A steel pipe underneath the TCH inbound near the Colwood off-ramp cracked this morning, causing water to flow out onto the highway for over ten hours before crews could get the flow under control.
"Well it appears that it may have been a failed weld. The pipe itself was installed in 1953 which puts it at about 63-years old. We would expect this type of pipe, given the condition that it's in and the location that it's in, to have a service life in excess of 80 years. So it's unusual that we would have a failure of this nature given the age of it."
GM of the CRD's Integrated Water Services Ted Robbins says two lanes southbound remain closed while crews complete repairs to the pipe and to the highway itself. He expects that work will continue into the evening, but will not impact northbound traffic.
Robbins says they were fortunate with the location of the break because the water flow was controlled through highway drainage structures, so there was no actual water damage to any properties in the area.