Denver Water crews working through the night installed another large section of a broken water main, getting a step closer to repairing northbound Interstate 25 before the next workweek.
“We’re hoping to get another lane open by Monday rush hour,” Stacy Chesney, spokeswoman for Denver Water, said this morning. “Crews are working around the clock.”
Three lanes of northbound I-25 were opened Friday night after concrete barriers were installed around the hole to protect repair crews.
The northbound lanes of I-25 erupted with water at the 58th Avenue exit about 3 p.m. Thursday when a 5-foot concrete conduit gave way, spilling more than 2 million gallons and opening a 40-by-40-foot sinkhole 16 feet deep.
Chesney said as many as 25 Denver Water employees using a crane removed broken sections of the conduit and lowered one 22-foot section into the hole Friday. Then early Saturday they lowered another similarly sized section of the conduit and it was connected.
“We’re going to take every precaution we can to make sure this never happens again,” she said. “We’re really concerned about safety and the integrity of the water system.”
Once Denver Water employees complete their work under the highway, the Colorado Department of Transportation will fill the hole in and pave over it, Chesney said.
Engineers hope to complete the section affecting the commute by the early part of next week, she said.
Chesney said the cost of the project has not been calculated, but it won’t be cheap. Large shifts of workers have been working 24 hours a day.
“Our first priority is getting this done as quickly as possible,” she said.
Brian Good, director of operations and maintenance for Denver Water, has said that the break was caused by overpressurization of the line after a pump failed, triggering an emergency shutoff.
No customers were without water after the water main stopped operating, Chesney said. The city re-routed to homes and businesses normally served by the conduit, she said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
