Water main break blocks, muddies up section of Mall Drive near Red Cliffs Mall

ST. GEORGE — A water main break overnight Tuesday has closed down a block of Mall Drive near Red Cliffs Mall.

St. George city staff work in a crevice opened up on Mall Drive after a water line broke, St. George, Utah, Nov. 22, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Both police and city officials say it could take days to fully reopen Mall Drive between 110 South and 200 South, about three to four blocks south of Red Cliffs Mall and BlvdHome.

“It’s quite a mess,” David Cordero, spokesperson for the City of St. George said, noting the inconvenience to Thanksgiving as well as shoppers heading to the nearby mall on Black Friday. “We’re working to try to get it done before Thanksgiving. But the key word is hopeful.”

The main break is directly in front of the RISE Opportunity Center, which provides services to special needs individuals. It was still possible to access RISE, despite having to navigate additional streets to get there.

The same goes for nearby residences. The challenge for people living there for at least the next day or so is finding a path home that doesn’t involve the impacted area of Mall Drive. 

 The inconvenience to traffic amounts to vehicles having to use E. 40 North and S. 2000 East to “go around the block” to get back to Mall Drive. 

Tuesday morning, that led to a line of about a dozen cars at each side of the closure and some extra wait time for commuters. 

Circle on map shows stretch of Mall Drive that was closed Tuesday after a water main break, Nov. 22, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Google Maps, St. George News | Click to enlarge

Cordero said while there was a brief interruption of water service to some residences in the area, crews quickly bypassed the broken pipe and restored service. 

Nearby, at least five city construction vehicles and more than a dozen water and public works staff were on the scene, with more arriving as the morning progressed. The street itself was opened into a gully, with workers taking a ladder several feet below the ripped-up street. Pumps were draining water onto Mall Drive.  

St. George Police said it was an officer on the night shift, Tanner Price, who discovered water gushing onto the street and preventing heavier traffic later in the morning from negotiating an eroding roadway.

“A graveyard officer noticed the water so he’s the one who found it,” Officer Tiffany Mitchell said. “It’s not affecting homes. They all have water. It’s just a matter of traffic impacts.”

Cordero said around 2 a.m., a high-pressure water line dating from 1985 cracked open. Pressure from the ground underneath caused stress to the pipe, which burst. Crews haven’t determined the reason for the ground movement, though it could have been the natural movement underground over the last 37 years.

“It could have been anything,” Cordero said. 

Broken pipe at the site of a water main break on Mall Drive, St. George, Utah, Nov. 22, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Broken water mains aren’t unheard of locally. In July, another broken water main on 100 South caused a sinkhole that swallowed up a car. 

The city is conducting ongoing work on water mains and drainage in other areas of the city, including a project that has closed off parts of 1400 West and Westridge Drive near Dixie Drive and Sunset Boulevard.

“We do our best when the pipes are getting old to replace them as man-hours and budget will allow,” Cordero said. “It can be hard to keep up.”

In the meantime, crews will continue to work to get Mall Drive complete again in time for Thanksgiving. At the least, Cordero said crews expect to get a new line working by Tuesday afternoon and will then will work to at least get a southbound lane opened up while the street itself is repaved. 

“Looks like we’ll need to replace the entire width of asphalt for half the block,” Cordero said. “We’re doing our best to get it done.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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