Flood delays traffic

Jun 19 2009 by Kenneth Speirs, Paisley Daily Express

THERE was traffic chaos in the centre of Paisley at the height of the morning rush hour on Wednesday after a water main burst.

A powerful gush of water from the pipe caused the road surface to crack and brought flooding to the Gauze and Incle Streets areas, as well as Glasgow Road.

A team of engineers from Scottish Water battled all of that morning and most of the afternoon to locatethe exact source of the problem.

Traffic management was put in place by Renfrewshire Council’s roads department.

One fuming worker said: “The traffic was held up right along Renfrew Road from the motorway turn-off at Arkleston because of all of this.

“I took me half an hour to get into Paisley, so bad was the snarl-up.

“And once I got into Paisley it was dead slow and stop at Gauze Street.

“I was about 40 minutes late for work.”

Despite the measures put in place, the situation resulted in long delays throughout the day.

Mark Templeton, Scottish Water’s acting regional manager, said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused to customers and road users.”