A driver plowed into a fire hydrant at Spring Lake Road and Ardan Avenue in Mounds View around 9 p.m. Monday, snapping it off and then speeding away without stopping. The impact triggered four separate water main breaks, leaving city crews with a repair bill expected to top $50,000.
According to KSTP, the City of Mounds View says the water main breaks occurred directly after the vehicle hit the hydrant and fled the scene. The driver has not been identified, and no description of the vehicle has been released.
Minnesota law requires drivers involved in a collision to stop immediately and reasonably investigate what was struck. For a crash causing only damage to a fixture beside a highway, the statute also requires the driver to notify the property owner or person in charge and report the information to police. The state collision law sets out those duties; police have not announced any suspect or potential charges in this case.
Fixing the Damage Won't Be Quick or Cheap
The cleanup is more involved than a simple hydrant swap. Per the city's account, the water main itself has to be repaired, trees near the site will need to be removed, and the asphalt and concrete torn up in the crash will have to be replaced before the intersection is fully restored.
That scope of work is what's driving the estimated cost past $50,000, the same report notes. For now, the intersection remains a worksite as crews sort out the sequence of repairs needed to get the water main, roadway and surrounding ground back to normal.
The damage reaches beyond the hydrant: Mounds View’s water utility supplies drinking water to homes and businesses, moving water from city wells through treatment and storage before distributing it through water mains. The city’s 2024 budget describes that system. As a rough regional comparison, Duluth put the cost of a typical water-main repair at about $7,000 in 2019; that figure is not a direct estimate for Mounds View’s four breaks and associated tree and pavement work. Duluth’s estimate gives a sense of how much the broader repair scope matters.
Police Want Your Security Cameras
According to KSTP 5 Eyewitness News, Mounds View police are asking anyone with home or business security cameras near Spring Lake Road and Ardan Avenue to check their footage from Monday night and turn over anything that might show the vehicle involved. Investigators have not said whether any leads have come in yet.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Mounds View police at 763-717-4070, as reported by KSTP 5 Eyewitness News. With no vehicle description or suspect identified, footage from nearby cameras may be the clearest path investigators have toward figuring out who was behind the wheel.
