Repair crews have completed four months of work to secure the 6-foot-wide water main that erupted in Dundalk last September. The break flooded several neighborhoods and undermined part of Broening Highway. Utility workers replaced two sections of the mammoth pipe at the site of the Sept. 18 break, said Kurt Kocher, spokesman for the Baltimore Department of Public Works. They also inspected three miles of the line, made more repairs at 13 locations and installed carbon fiber lining to strengthen portions of the main. Water officials blamed the break on a faulty 1970s concrete pipe that has caused numerous big breaks in Maryland and other states. "It is another example of the need for infrastructure investment on a massive scale," Kocher said. Many miles of pipe are far older, he added.

- Frank D. Roylance