Lushington Hill in Wootton is not expected to reopen until Friday at the earliest, as Southern Water continues work to deal with a burst water main which has caused significant disruption in the village.
Island Roads has confirmed this afternoon (Wednesday) that Southern Water is continuing to work on the issue, but has advised that the main road between Newport and Wootton is unlikely to reopen before Friday.
Island Roads says it will continue liaising with Southern Water and provide further updates as work progresses.
As first reported by Island Echo, hundreds of properties in Wootton were left without water this morning after 2 separate water mains burst on either side of the village.
The problems developed in the early hours, with engineers called to Eleanor’s Grove near Fishbourne and Lushington Hill.
Temporary traffic lights were initially put in place at both locations, but Lushington Hill was subsequently closed in both directions at around 10:13 to allow repair work to get underway.
The disruption has also impacted local bus services, with Southern Vectis confirming earlier today that Route 4 was no longer operating and Route 9 services were diverting via Staplers Road until further notice.
Wootton Primary School was also unable to open as normal this morning because of the loss of water supply.
Southern Water has apologised for the disruption and said its team is working to repair the burst and restore supplies as soon as possible.
Motorists now face continued disruption on one of the main routes between Newport and Ryde, with Lushington Hill expected to remain shut until at least Friday.
UPDATE SATURDAY – Lushington Hill has now reopened, albeit under 2-way temporary traffic lights.
Read more at https://www.islandecho.co.uk/lushington-hill-reopens-after-burst-main-but-further-works-still-to-come/.
Eleanor’s grove, isn’t that where Southern water place a new mains water pipe recently
The water was back on by about 5pm, so they at least deserve some credit for that
Why do these burst water mains keep happening so often and always on busy main thoroughfare? Suspicious…
Possibly as many water mains and other services are under the main roads. The recent heatwave has seen the underlying ground dry out and move as it settles making for a bumpy road. Just look as the Whiterails road out of Wootton to see a road settling. This movement could well be the cause of the old Victorian era cast water pipes breaking, plus increased heavy traffic on the road above.
We think our mains water pressure has been slightly higher than usual for a couple of weeks which may not help the old pipes?
I have heard this too, from many people , caused some internal (household) leaks etc