Repairs for water main leak close lanes on Loretto Road, JEA says

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two lanes are closed Thursday morning on Loretto Road near Old St. Augustine Road as JEA crews work to repair a leak in a water main that crosses Loretto Road, the utility said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said part of the northbound lanes on Old St. Augustine Road are also blocked.

Traffic can flow in both directions on Loretto Road, and JEA says it will open another travel lane on Loretto to help with morning traffic as soon as it is safe for their crews to do so.

According to JEA, crews responded to a leaking 6-inch water main Wednesday night, and after they investigated, they found the water main is over 13 feet deep and crosses Loretto Road, just west of Old St. Augustine Road.

The crew, which was working through the night, found the leak and began making repairs early Thursday morning.

JEA said the pipe was damaged at a fused joint by a communications contractor, which caused the leak.

JEA said that the pipe was fixed just after 6:30 a.m., and full road restoration will begin by 7:30 a.m. It’s expected to take most of the day, but crews will open an additional travel lane before 8 a.m.

The only customers affected by the water outage were St. Joseph’s Historic Church and Cody Enrichment Center (which are in the same building) at the southwest corner of the intersection. Crews began slowly restoring water pressure to the building after the leak was repaired.

JEA will be issuing a boil water advisory for those customers.