Truck crushes an aging downtown Bradenton water line. Did you lose service?

A downtown Bradenton water main broke after a truck’s front end fell through the street at the intersection of Fourth Avenue West and 15th Street West in downtown Bradenton on Wednesday morning.

The accident happened about 9 a.m. when the truck went over an old cast iron 6-inch water main line.

Public Works Superintendent Gregory Jones said it’s difficult to tell exactly what happened, but he estimates the weight of the truck likely caused the break. Otherwise the city would have received some type of alert that something was wrong.

“But I can’t say that for sure right now,” Jones said, who noted the priority was to make the repair.

By 10 a.m., crews were well on their way making the repairs to the pipe. The Bradenton Police Department announced the street reopened to traffic at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Neighbors to the west said their water was still running as normal and Jones said he had yet to receive any calls regarding water issues from homes and businesses in the immediate area.

Jeannie Roberts, the city’s communications director, said since no pressure was lost, no boil water notice will be necessary.

The city still has many miles of old cast iron pipes that were installed dating back to the 1950s or earlier. Downtown infrastructure improvements are scheduled to be included as part of the downtown streestscaping project as it expands across Old Main Street and neighboring roadways.

This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 10:52 AM.