NEWTON – A major water main break flooded parts of Newton Corner, Massachusetts, and leaked water onto the Mass Pike on Wednesday.
No customers at companies
The break occurred as rush hour began and Exit 127 on the Pike was closed. Other lanes in Newton Corner were closed throughout the morning.
“It’s usually still busy, but not like this morning,” said Larry Grigoryan, owner of The Cobbler Shop. “This morning it was terrible.”
Between the daily traffic jams and water main breaks, Grigoryan said he had no customers all day.
“It’s not normal, maybe because they all heard on the news that there are problems,” Grigoryan said.
Police say the break started just before 5 a.m. on Center Street. The water then spread to Washington Street before leaking onto the Pike, closing an eastbound lane and shutting down the old Exit 17, a major artery for commuters entering the city and customers going to Newton’s Honda Village.
“I thought it could have an impact on the company today,” said Carl Pasquarosa, general manager of Honda Village Newton.
Construction in area
Newton Corner has been under construction for a while and MassDOT recently replaced the carousels traffic patterns in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion. The exact cause of the water pipe break is being investigated.
“We know that a lot of the systems here are old and we’ve had a lot of development here with the gas lines,” Pasquarosa said. “Maybe it was just something that was affected by all the construction that’s going on.”
“I would say it is better than before, much better,” Grigoryan said.
In a statement, the city of Newton said the main was fully repaired and working again by 8 a.m. and no customers lost water service. All roads are now open again.
