A sewer line already scheduled for summer replacement, but awaiting permitting, ruptured Wednesday, leading to traffic headaches. Warwick motorists have been warned to avoid West Shore Road, near the Islander, while crews worked to fix a leaking sewer line early Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, April 17, Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi announced the leak, “in the vicinity of the Islander,” and assured the public that repairs were underway.

While the road was “open to traffic in both directions,” crews still had work to complete Thursday morning.

“The Sewer department was not able to complete the repair to the line on West Shore Road last night and will be working on it today,” Picozzi posted to his social media accounts. “Traffic will likely be detoured so expect delays or seek an alternate route.”

Picozzi shared photos from the scene of the repair work.

“This was a very unfortunate occurrence,” Picozzi wrote. “This forced main was scheduled to be redone beginning this summer. The funding has been secured through a federal grant and the project has been designed and is currently in the permitting process. Our sewer infrastructure had been ignored for a long time but in the past three years they have made great strides in improving our aging systems using federal monies.”