Water leak stalls traffic at Warren/Barrington line

EastBayRI.com ·

Warren traffic on Route 114 backed up well in to Barrington Thursday morning as crews from CB Utility worked to fix a water leak that occurred at the site of a $2 million Bristol County Water Authority water main construction project.

The leak was noticed early Thursday morning near the Patriot Liquors parking lot. Deputy Warren Police Chief Joseph Loiselle, who is coordinating police details and traffic control at the project site, said crews were trying to repair the leak as quickly as possible. He termed it “emergency construction.”

“This is not something that was planned,” he said. “It possibly has something to do with” the larger project.

That work, which started Monday evening, involves removing old water mains from the Warren town line to Water Street and later, along Water Street. The first phase of construction is being carried out nightly, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., to lessen the impact on traffic. Unfortunately, Deputy Chief Loiselle said, addressing the leak immediately was essential and led to the traffic issues Thursday morning. He predicted the emergency work would be done by the afternoon.

That wasn’t the only traffic work in downtown Warren Thursday morning. Verizon workers were also at an unrelated project site on Main Street, near the intersection of Miller, working with the state DOT to raise manholes in the area. Police detail officers were diverting traffic around the site.

“There’s a lot going on,” Deputy Chief Loiselle said.