A portion of Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda, Maryland, remains closed Wednesday after a water main break flooded the street and damaged the roadway, according to Montgomery County officials.
The 20-inch water main that broke Tuesday has been repaired, a WSSC spokesperson told WTOP Wednesday morning. But crews are still working to repair the roadway.
“The pipe is repaired and water is back on,” a spokesperson told WTOP. “We will now focus on the road repairs. We are starting on the eastbound side and will work as quickly as possible.”
Drivers could get by on the eastbound lanes as of Wednesday afternoon, but the westbound lanes were still closed. The utility said it anticipates having all lanes open Wednesday night, weather permitting. Storms are in the forecast, which could delay the reopening.
The break caused significant flooding Tuesday near the Bradley Shopping Center and shut down Bradley Boulevard from Arlington Road to Hillandale Road.
The break caused no shortage of headaches for residents nearby.
Courtney Sweet, who works at Edith’s Pizza on Arlington Road, told WTOP: “I was just about to leave for a delivery to a school, and that was fine. I left. When I came back, everything was closed from Bethesda Avenue down to Arlington Road.”
At the time, they were just trying to finish their shift.
“I called my boss … the road’s closed, I can’t get through, and he’s like, that’s fine, just come in tomorrow … So then I got home, and I checked my water, and it was just the water pressure was just a trickle, so that was challenging.”
WSSC Water told WTOP that even though the main has been repaired, Bradley Boulevard will remain closed as they make repairs.
It is not clear what caused the water main to rupture, but WSSC Water said this pipe is relatively new and recently installed in 2018. Engineers will be investigating the cause of the rupture.
Below is a map of where the water main break took place.
[google_map latitude=”38.97797693513161″ longitude=”-77.09883894819372″ zoom=”15″ height=”300px” location_label=”Bradley Shopping Center road flooding” dynamic_map=”true”]
WTOP’s Ana Golden, Jeffery Leon, Luke Lukert, Thomas Robertson and Will Vitka contributed to this report.