Water main breaks, prompting gridlock

-- Young Chang

Rush hour was worse than usual for commuters returning home Wednesday

afternoon on Coast Highway. Though skies were clear throughout the day,

cars inched their way along on a roadway as slick as a street on a rainy

day.

A water main on Dover Drive ruptured at about 4:30 p.m., causing

significant damage to the road surface between Coast Highway and Cliff

Drive, police said.

Specific damages from the rupture could not be assessed Wednesday

evening, said Sgt. Neil Harvey of the Newport Beach Police Department.

Officials had not yet determined the cause of the broken main.

Authorities said the stretch of Dover Drive is expected to be shut

down for at least 24 hours so that crews can make road repairs.

Police officers and cleanup crews were at the scene, trying to get

traffic moving again Wednesday evening. Motorists were backed up to both

the eastbound and westbound lanes of Jamboree Road in Newport Beach.

The incident did not cause any traffic injuries, Harvey said, but some

businesses in the area lost water pressure because of the break.

Cleanup and repair crews may take up to two days to complete the job,

Harvey said.