A water main break has occurred on NC16 Business just north of NC73 around 6:30 on Wednesday evening. Crews arrived at 7:00 to begin assessing the situation and to isolate the water outage to as small an area as possible.
Due to the waterline being located under NC16 Business in this area motorists are encouraged to avoid this portion of NC16 Business due to road closures.
Isolation of the impacted area occurred around 9:00PM. Water pressures should begin to increase for residences in the area. Due to air in the lines it may be necessary to run your faucet to help flush air out of the lines. Cloudiness of the water in normal after a break but the water remains safe to drink.
Businesses along NC73 between N/S Pilot Knob Rd and NC16 Bypass may experiences outages as crews work to repair the water line.
Interruptions to motorists will continue through Thursday morning as roadway repairs will be necessary to reopen the roadway. Motorist should seek alternate routes for their morning commutes and allow additional time to navigate the area.
The recommended detour for southbound commuters heading into Charlotte from the NC16 Business corridor would be to take NC16 Business to North Triangle Circle to Optimist Club Road to NC16 Bypass.
The recommended detour for motorists traveling east or west on NC73 from the NC16 Business corridor would be to take NC16 Business to North Triangle Circle to Optimist Club Road to NC16 Bypass and then exit onto NC73 and then proceed with their commute as normal.
As of 6:00AM on Thursday morning the repair to the water main was complete and water services should begin returning to normal. Due to air in the lines it may be necessary to run your faucet to help flush air out of the lines. Cloudiness of the water in normal after a break but the water remains safe to drink.
Even though the water main repair is complete substantial road repair work still need to be done. Road closures in this area are anticipated to last through Friday, May 24th.
**As the extent of the outage is more understood staff will work to update this messaging.**