Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Whitehorse Star

Geoff Quinsey

Water main break affecting traffic, businesses

City officials were advising motorists planning to travel down Mountainview Drive along Copper Road to take alternative routes after a water main break occurred there Sunday.

By Stephanie Waddell on February 11, 2019

City officials were advising motorists planning to travel down Mountainview Drive along Copper Road to take alternative routes after a water main break occurred there Sunday.

As it was highlighted on the city’s website and in social media posts Sunday afternoon:

“Water main break at 111 Copper Road, resulting in water in the northbound lane between Industrial and Tlingit Road. Crews will be working tonight and into Monday, February 11. Those who commute by Mountainview Drive to Downtown are asked to please take an alternate route.”

Geoff Quinsey, the city’s manager of water and waste services, said this morning the situation was reported to the city by a member of the public in the area around 11 a.m. Sunday.

While the road was kept open, traffic was slowed with the pylons put in place.

A more significant closure may occur once the city starts digging as part of the repairs.

“The excavation for repair may require a one-lane closure and detour, but we will avoid that if possible,” Quinsey stated in an email correspondence.

“There is significant ice build-up in the gutter along Copper Road, especially approaching the Copper/Tlingit Rd. intersection. Drivers are asked to take alternate routes if available, and proceed with caution on Copper Road.”

Transit is continuing to operate its route through the area as scheduled.

Approximately eight businesses in the area have been impacted and are without water, though are continuing to operate.

As Yukon Brewing informed customers via social media Sunday: “Due to a pipe burst in the area, we currently have no water here at the brewery. We unfortunately are not able to do pints and growler fills at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience! We will update once the situation has been resolved.”

Quinsey said crews would continue to excavate today “in hope of completing the work all today.”

Whether it can be finished, though, will depend on a number of factors. Those include what is found when crews reach the pipe, the amount of ground water there is, the temperature through the day and the amount of work needed to deal with the water on Copper Road.

Depending on the situation with those factors, Quinsey said, work may have to continue into Tuesday, though officials are hopeful it can be completed today.

It’s not yet clear what caused the break. As Quinsey said, that may be more clear once they get to the pipe through the excavation.

Comments (9)

Up 6 Down 5

Hugh Mungus on Feb 14, 2019 at 4:12 pm

@Doris Bittner
Imagine what you want.
Closed minded thinkers said the same thing about Riverdale. Then Porter Creek (and Porter Creek C). Then Granger. Then Copper Ridge. Then Whistle Bend. Are you noticing a pattern yet?

As much as you want to pine about your archaic vision of the Yukon, those days are long gone.

Up 10 Down 2

Doris Bittner on Feb 14, 2019 at 12:26 pm

@Hugh Mungus - What 8,000 more civil servants coming to the Yukon?
I can't imagine that minimum wage earners can't afford the move - just sayin

Up 12 Down 3

Hugh Mungus on Feb 13, 2019 at 2:51 pm

@ Bandit
Do you honestly think Yukoners can comprehend an alternating lane? They have yet to grasp the concept of a roundabout 10 years in. Stop and Yield signs are merely suggestions.

The thing is, Whitehorse is growing (you ignored the fact of 8,000 more souls in WB over the next 4 or 5 years) plus the potential expansion of Porter Creek D, E or whatever. Imagine Oak Street in Vancouver as 2 lanes today. At some point COW has to create major arteries to/from downtown to the bedroom communities or else the city will rot from the inside out like Detroit.

Up 11 Down 0

Groucho d'North on Feb 12, 2019 at 1:53 pm

Old water infrastructure without the benefit of insulating snow cover. This is not a new issue. But it appears the city is waiting for these known weak points to fail before they repair them, rather than spending some money and taking a preventative maintenance approach. I wonder which approach costs more...and for who?

Up 11 Down 2

Bandit on Feb 12, 2019 at 1:23 pm

We don't need 4 lanes from Porter creek to Superstore as it would become a Racetrack similar to Hamilton Blvd. What might be an alternative is adding a 3rd lane alternating North or South depending on traffic flow/time of day. I travel that route daily during peak times and the only bottleneck starts as you are in the area around Yukon Brewing +/-. Anyways this has nothing to do with the article about the water main break I was just addressing the post from HM.

Up 9 Down 3

Not Wrong on Feb 12, 2019 at 12:08 pm

You're right, but it's going to require expropriating lands the entire way. Not going to happen. Political suicide at either the municipal or territorial level.

Up 13 Down 0

another mess on Feb 12, 2019 at 9:56 am

because of no maintenance program in place and tax payers pay for it.

Up 9 Down 2

Wayfinder on Feb 11, 2019 at 7:36 pm

@ Humungus - Quartz? Industrial is a cross Road.

Up 23 Down 6

Hugh Mungus on Feb 11, 2019 at 2:54 pm

That section of road needs major upgrades.
It should be twinned from 12 Ave in Porter Creek down to the Superstore.

Existing infrastructure is crumbling with water main breaks and floods happening regularly along there. The utilities should be buried, you can see a bunch of poles leaning well past the safe point. Once Whistle Bend fills up with 8,000 people in the next couple of years the road with 4 names (Hickory, Moutianview, Industrial, Copper) will be a worse choke point than that abomination of a bridge coming out of Riverdale.

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