
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 11, 1995                   TAG: 9501110063
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

12-INCH-LINE BREAK LEAVES MOTELS DRY

A broken water main Tuesday afternoon at Orange Avenue and Williamson Road drained water pressure in three-fourths of Roanoke and parts of Roanoke County, disrupted traffic and left nearby motel operators wondering how to be hospitable when they couldn't offer guests a glass of water.

The 12-inch main broke just before 3 p.m., causing water to gush up through the road and curbs in dozens of little geysers. Workers on the scene couldn't pinpoint a cause for the rupture, but said lines often break because of changing temperatures.

Roanoke utility workers had the break valved off by 3:35 p.m., Roanoke Public Information Officer Michelle Bono said. But as the muddy water receded, it revealed drifts of red clay and chunks of cracked pavement and cement - the result of the earth below having been washed away.

``All this pavement's going to have to come out,'' said Roanoke Utility Lines Supervisor Ed Trent - the ``Main Man'' - pointing to the buckled asphalt in the westbound lanes of Orange Avenue. ``It's a big, big deal.''

Trent said a few businesses on Orange Avenue between Williamson and Plantation roads were without water. Workers expected to have the break repaired by 10 p.m. At 11:30 p.m., though, the water still was not back on.

``You just don't appreciate the resources you've got until you lose them,'' said T.W. Bess, manager at the Holiday Inn across from the Roanoke Civic Center. There was water in the rooms at the back of the motel, but taps in the front rooms were dry.

Down the street at the Friendship Inn, Joan Williams of Allen Management, the Hampton company that owns the motel, was pondering her misfortune in choosing to visit that particular Tuesday. How do you survive in a motel without water?

``You don't take showers, and you don't flush the toilet,'' Williams said.

Friendship Inn General Manager Donald Moss said all he could do was tell people looking for rooms about the situation and hope they stayed anyway.

As workers began tearing up the street to repair the broken main, police set out pylons cutting westbound traffic on Orange from four lanes to two.

Bono thought that the left-turn lane onto Williamson would have to be closed, which would have been a problem for hockey fans going to the Civic Center on Tuesday night, but workers were able to keep the turn lane open.

Bono said workers would stay through the night and should have traffic patterns back to normal by this morning.

by CNB