DRIVERS faced hold-ups on one of Huddersfield’s busiest roads – after another water main burst.
The burst in Wakefield Road, Moldgreen, was the FIFTH in a little over two years and hit rush-hour traffic last night and this morning.
Yorkshire Water engineers called to the scene had to shut two out of the four lanes to let workmen carry out the job in safety.
That meant all traffic had to use the inbound lanes near the junction with Smithy Lane
The works caused long traffic jams both in and out of Huddersfield.
A Yorkshire Water spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to customers for any disruption they may have experienced as a result of a burst on our 9-inch water pipe on Wakefield Road, Huddersfield.
“We are currently on site and working as fast as we can to carry out the repair and get everything back to normal.
“Unfortunately, in order to ensure public safety and enable our technicians to carry out the repair, traffic leaving Huddersfield via Wakefield Road is restricted to one lane around the immediate area of the burst.
“We would also like to thank customers for notifying us about the burst and enabling us to get a team out there to repair it as quickly as possible.”
It is not known how many customers lost supplies but the main does serve a huge area.
Previous bursts on the same pipe have had a massive impact on homes, businesses and schools.
In October 2007, a burst on the main meant that all the Rawthorpe schools had to shut, along with Moldgreen School, St Joseph’s Catholic School and Longley School.
When the main burst again in September 2008, Moldgreen school was forced to close for a day.
And in September last year, there were two major bursts in the space of five days, which again hit a number of homes and caused problems for motorists.
Yorkshire Water has said that the main is an old pipe and is nearing the end of its working life.
