Spalding’s Commercial Road is now open - after second repair to same pipe has been completed by Anglian Water

Water bosses have confirmed that a major town route was closed twice to repair the same pipe.

Commercial Road in Spalding has been shut twice in as many weeks in order for Anglian Water to repair the same stretch sewage pipe - which has created traffic chaos for motorists across the town again.

Monday’s rush hour traffic was horrendous after Anglian Water closed the road over the weekend - but thankfully it has reopened earlier today.

A loss of takings and reduced footfall has been reported by a number of businesses along the one-way route.

A spokesman said: “The reinstatement of this job took slightly longer than the team was expecting. We’ve got to do this properly, otherwise we risk the road not being safe to walk or drive on, and ultimately highways would need to close it again fairly quickly to repair further damage.

“Although we appreciate it’s disruptive, we hope residents will understand we want to do a thorough job in the immediate term – even if it takes slightly longer – to try and head off long-term issues and further closures.

“We’re also looking into further work (which wouldn’t require road closures) to try and predict any further bursts on the sewer in Commercial Road, so we can prevent them from occurring.

“Obviously, if we do have another burst, we’d need to repair that on an emergency basis, which might include traffic management – but this proactive, preventative work will be done with as little disruption to the community as possible.”

The road had initially been closed on September 19 after the pipe burst and the firm had to use four tankers to pump away the sewage.

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