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 begins.
“We’re hoping to get another lane open by Monday rush hour,” Stacy Chesney, spokeswoman for Denver Water, said Saturday. “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 Colorado Department of Transportation added the 11-foot-wide lanes and restricted speeds to 45 mph, according to Stacey Stegman, a CDOT spokeswoman.
The northbound lanes of I-25 erupted with water at the 58th Avenue exit about 3 p.m. Thursday when a 5-foot-wide 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 overnight.
Once Denver Water employees complete their work in the pit, CDOT will fill the hole in and pave over it, Chesney said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
