Part of 17th St. in Center City closed after hole opens in road
CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- Work continued throughout the day Tuesday as crews worked to repair a broken underground pipe that caused part of Center City street to cave in.
It happened on 17th Street between Walnut and Locust.
That stretch of the street was shut down, causing a big traffic headache in the area, and it could remain closed into Wednesday.
It started Monday night, when the Philadelphia Water Department was called out for a leak in the street.
Crews found small, deep hole in the road. They identified the problem was caused a three-inch break in a service connection to a nearby high-rise building.
No water was running to the properties upstairs and, by mid-morning, the water was off downstairs too.
Earlier Tuesday, PWD was ready to turn the water back on- and begin examining the issue more closely, but a live wire underground posed a potential problem. So, PECO was summoned to deal with the electrical issue.
Their work required an even bigger hole to be opened in the street.
"As soon as we have the water restored, we will begin investigating the cause of the cave-in," said PWD spokesman John DiGiulio.
Traffic crawled along Walnut and 17th. Horns were honking with motorists frustrated and upset by the back-up.
"It's very crowded. We're moving maybe one car per light," said Nancy Linton of Avondale, Pa.
"I think I've been here for like 20 minutes, for one block, just trying to get forward," said Lisa Tynes of Voorhees, New Jersey.
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