UPDATE: Water main break highlights aging infrastructure

The Sarasota Police Department closed both lanes of North Tamiami Trail for most of Saturday, due to a water main break that occurred at roughly 9 a.m.

“It’s believed it was the result of aging infrastructure,” said city of Sarasota spokeswoman Jan Thornburg in an email. “The pipe was installed around 1960.”

City utilities crews replaced 19 feet of the 8-inch water main on the North Trail near its intersection with Highland Street. Staff also patched temporary asphalt over the affected area on northbound lanes before reopening the road Saturday evening.

The road has been reduced to a single northbound and southbound lane while a contractor applies hot asphalt to the areas that collapsed over the weekend, according to emails from Thornburg and Florida Department of Transportation spokesman Robin Stublen. A longterm fix for the road has not been scheduled.