A big water main break at the intersection of Damon Road and King Street Wednesday afternoon had crews working deep into the night to fix. Parts of the intersection remained closed until early Thursday afternoon. The cause of the break remains undetermined, city officials said.
A big water main break at the intersection of Damon Road and King Street Wednesday afternoon had crews working deep into the night to fix. Parts of the intersection remained closed until early Thursday afternoon. The cause of the break remains undetermined, city officials said. Credit: STAFF PHOTO/ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — After hours of repairs on the intersection of King Street and Damon Road following a water main break Wednesday afternoon, the roads were cleared for travel once again approximately 24 hours later, the mayor’s office reported.

The break occurred at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday, causing severe traffic delays and loss of water service to many on King Street, a street with many commercial businesses on it. Traffic on Damon Road was redirected to nearby Industrial Drive, while drivers on Bridge Road and King Street were unable to access Damon Road. Though scheduled construction work had been occurring in the area right before the break occurred, the official cause remains under investigation.

The Northampton Department of Public Works worked late into the night to restore water service, which was restarted sometime after midnight Thursday, according to the mayor’s office.

But Damon Road remained closed for drivers coming from King Street as late as Thursday afternoon, as work continued to be done to refill and repave the road once water service had been restored.

That work was contracted by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to Gagliarducci Construction, the same company that had been scheduled to do lighting and sidewalk improvement along the area before the water main break.

Alexander MacDougall is a reporter covering the Northampton city beat, including local government, schools and the courts. A Massachusetts native, he formerly worked at the Bangor Daily News in Maine....