Break in 52-year-old pipe caused HRBT mess

CHESAPEAKE

State transportation officials now know what caused flooding that shut down the westbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel for eight hours last week and hobbled motorists throughout the region. But they’re still studying how to keep it from happening again.  

Officials said Friday the initial investigation has concluded that a half-century-old fire water main encased in concrete burst inside the westbound section of the bridge-tunnel. The break went undetected for hours as millions of gallons of water partially filled a large chamber under  the roadway, eventually seeping onto the road just before the morning rush  and causing all traffic to stop.

Initial repairs have been made, and a more detailed investigation will be done over  several weeks to find the  causes of the July 2 system failure and to recommend changes aimed at preventing a recurrence, said David Ekern, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation.

“I take this responsibility very seriously. We will work to get all the facts on the table,’’ Ekern told a crowd of about 100  officials and residents.

“I intend that we conduct this review in full public view,” he said.

Ekern and other officials said many issues won’t be resolved until they complete their review. They could not say whether anyone is at fault for the incident and resulting gridlock. They don’t know yet whether proper procedures were followed.

Ekern acknowledged that “procedures did not work properly to identify the flood and keep it from significantly impacting traffic.”

No monitoring equipment is in place that would have detected the flooding before it reached the road. The cast-iron pipeline, which stretches the length of the tunnel, is tested every five years, most recently in 2006.

VDOT officials said they will examine whether that frequency  is sufficient to ensure the pipe’s integrity. The timing of the test follows guidelines established by the National Fire Protection Association, they said.

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said that a test every five years is unacceptable.

“Because tunnels are vital to the local, regional and national economies and to our national defense, it is imperative that these facilities are properly maintained and inspected to  ensure the safe passage of the traveling public,” he said.

Ekern said the review panel will include  state and federal transportation, emergency preparedness and law enforcement agencies. It will examine all records and activities at the time of the shutdown, he said.

Fraim told VDOT officials that he doesn’t want to rush to blame anyone but he wants   quick action to ensure that the tunnels won’t have more problems.

“We don’t have the luxury of time today. In a real sense, this is the lull before the storm. We are in a hurricane season,” Fraim said. “Whether it’s weather-driven or age-related – whatever the issues are with the tunnels – we need some answers pretty quickly.”

While earlier reports suggested that a failure of pumps may have caused the flooding, VDOT officials said that was not the core problem.

At some point – exactly when was uncertain Friday – the 8-inch pipe that supplies water to fire hydrants in the tunnel burst open near an air flue that ventilates a large chamber beneath the tunnel roadway. The chamber is large enough to allow a person to walk inside. Workers later found a large chunk of pipe in the bottom of the chamber.

About 2 million gallons of water poured into the chamber, overwhelming pumps that were designed to handle a much smaller volume of storm water.

 The flooding went undetected until 6:15 a.m. July 2, when the tunnel control room notified the maintenance staff that standing water was detected at the lowest point of the westbound traffic lanes. Eleven minutes later, all westbound traffic was stopped.

Almost seven hours later, VDOT workers were able to reopen one lane. It wasn’t until 7:37 p.m. that both lanes were open.

Outside the tunnel, which carries 95,000 vehicles a day, the shutdown spawned a  traffic jam that stretched for miles, well into the night.

The congestion was compounded by unrelated problems at other water crossings caused in part by a thunderstorm. The James River Bridge was closed for a time because of a downed power line, the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel  had a power outage, and a tractor trailer overturned on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Pierce Homer, the state Secretary of Transportation, said after the hearing that while there may be procedural and other changes needed, the problem is not a shortage of money for maintenance.

The department has struggled with funds for secondary road maintenance around the state, he said, but maintenance  for the bridge-tunnels  is not being shortchanged.

When asked about whether VDOT has a public relations problem because of incidents like the tunnel flooding, Ekern said: “I don’t comment on what my customers may or may not perceive about us. What I do stand on is the department’s record in the last eight years … when we implemented over 1,000 findings, recommendations and changes in the department.”

A handful of state delegates and senators  spoke out during the hearing, some blaming each other’s chamber for failing to take action to address the region’s growing transportation problems. All said major changes are needed.

“If we have a hurricane in this area and all the tunnels are closed, we won’t be able to get out,” said State Sen. Yvonne Miller, D-Norfolk.

Bill Bartel, (757) 446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com