A major water main break just off the Boston Public Garden on Wednesday tore open Park Plaza, carving out a sizable sinkhole and leaving the roadway visibly buckling, according to Boston police.
Officers shut down Park Plaza between Charles Street and Arlington Street and pushed traffic deeper into the Back Bay as detours went up. Nearby stretches of Columbus Avenue and streets around Boylston Street were also affected while police tried to keep cars, buses and curious onlookers away from the damage.
Boston police told WHDH that the leak from the main caused the sinkhole and that Columbus Avenue to Arlington Street and Hadassah Way at Boylston Street were among the specific trouble spots. Officers urged the public to steer clear while emergency and utility crews worked to contain the break. As of the time of that report, crews were already on scene clearing debris and taking stock of how badly the pavement had been chewed up.
Road closures and travel impacts
Drivers headed anywhere near the Public Garden should brace for a messy evening commute, with barricades still locking down Park Plaza and detours pulling traffic onto surrounding streets. Motorists are being told to follow posted detour signs and listen to officers directing both vehicles and pedestrians around the scene.
MBTA riders whose trips take them near Boylston or Arlington are being advised to pad their schedules in case buses or surface routes get stuck in the spillover traffic.
What crews are doing
The Boston Water and Sewer Commission, which oversees the city’s water mains, typically handles emergency shutoffs, digs into the street to reach failed pipes and lays down temporary paving before full repairs happen. The commission lists 617-989-7000 as its emergency number and notes that its crews are the ones who usually patch, backfill and repave after a main lets go.
City public-works teams generally coordinate with Boston police to reopen streets only after the trench is stabilized and the surface is safe for cars, bikes and foot traffic again.
Why this keeps happening
This latest break comes on the heels of other main failures around the city. Earlier this week, a separate rupture in Chinatown shut down Kneeland Street and needed overnight repair work, according to The Boston Globe.
Engineers and public-works officials routinely point to aging cast-iron mains and New England’s freeze-thaw cycles in winter as usual suspects when pipes suddenly give way. The constant patchwork of emergency repairs has kept water and street crews busy in neighborhoods across Boston in recent weeks.
By late Wednesday, neither police nor city officials had given a timeline for when Park Plaza might reopen. Boston police told WHDH that crews were focused on securing the site and getting repair work started. Anyone traveling through the Back Bay is urged to check local police and BWSC channels before heading into the area. We will update this post as officials release more information.
