4:30 p.m.
Two six-decade-old water mains that burst along Sixth Avenue in downtown Prince George are nearly repaired by city crews.
Within a 12-hour span, two cast iron pipes, located at the Winnipeg and Victoria Street intersections, broke due to earlier extreme cold conditions, causing water service to be shut down to local buildings.
According to a city update, both 15cm cast-iron pipes, originally installed for 1956, were discovered fractured and operations began as soon as crews could to fix them.
Water service was fully restored at both intersections as of this afternoon (Jan. 16) as crews begin backfilling the exacavations, meaning traffic will be fully re-opened at the end of the day.
These two areas, along with the intersection of St. Anne and St. Lawrence in the Southridge area of Prince George, will be repaved in the spring when the weather warms up.
Crews restored water to that College Heights neighbourhood at 11 p.m. last night (Jan. 15).
12:10 p.m.
As the weather warms up to a balmy -21 C today (Jan. 16), Prince George received enough snow overnight (about eight centimetres according to City measurements) to warrant snow and ice control crews to return to clearing priority one and priority two routes.
Crews have been plowing priority roads throughout the city since early this morning following the end of the suspension of snow clearing activities due to yesterday’s extreme cold, with a morning record-breaking temperature of -44 C.
Snow and ice control crews will resume clearing priority three residential routes by this weekend.
The city was also dealing with a number of water main breaks due to the recent extreme temperature.
Water service restored to Southridge residents
Crews worked into the night last night to restore water service to more than 300 residences in the Southridge neighbourhood after a water main burst on Tuesday morning (Jan. 14) between St. Anne and St. Lawrence streets.
Water service was restored for all residences and the excavation area was backfilled by 11 p.m. last night (Jan. 15).
The city says the location will be repaved in the spring.
Sixth Avenue water main breaks
Crews are now working at the locations of two mains that burst on Sixth Avenue yesterday at the intersections with Winnipeg and Victoria Streets.
The city aims to have both mains repaired and the areas backfilled by the end of today.
Businesses and residences along Victoria and Winnipeg Streets have retained their water service.
However, structures along Sixth Avenue between Victoria and Brunswick Streets are experiencing a temporary water service disruption as crews work to repair the mains.
Sixth Avenue also remains closed to traffic between Vancouver and Winnipeg Streets and between Victoria and Brunswick Streets.
