Road sectioned off in water main repairs

A section of Zimovia Highway has been closed off to traffic as Wrangell Public Works resurfaces a hole left from repairs.

The section is located between where Church Street leaves off and the highway begins, and the road's intersection with Weber Street, on the westward side of the road. A line break there was first reported in early February, Public Works director Amber Al-Haddad explained, during a spate of freezing weather.

A crew responded and determined the fault was not with a main, but rather corrosion on one of the valves.

"The metals in the valve were corroding faster than we expected," Al-Haddad explained. Located near two other similarly built valves, city workers took the opportunity to inspect them as well, and found they also needed to be replaced.

This part of the work was wrapped up earlier this week, and weather-permitting the hole should be filled up with fresh asphalt by the weekend.

The section is only a stone's throw from another segment which had caused trouble this winter, when a line running beneath St. Michaels Street just west of the Church Street intersection ruptured in mid-December.