Holly Springs Road Reopens After Massive Sewage Spill

CARY, N.C. — Part of a Cary road that was shut down for days so trucks could transport millions of gallons of raw sewage reopened shortly after 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The Town of Cary closed Holly Springs Road to all through-traffic from Cary Parkway to Penny Road on Saturday so that 20 trucks could haul the sewage, which overflowed in Swift Creek.

Heavy rains caused a pipe critical to operations at the Swift Creek Regional Pump Station to become dislodged on Friday evening. The station handles an average of about 5 million gallons of wastewater each day.

Crews worked since Friday to put in place a temporary pipe system to bypass the pump station. It was set to be in place by Tuesday evening, but more rain and more sewage problems delayed the fix until early Wednesday.

"This is a tremendously positive next step for us," said Cary Utilities Director Rob Bonné. "Now, we can focus on repairing the Swift Creek station and getting it back into service."

It could be next week, however, before a permanent fix is made. An estimate of the costs or an exact timeframe for the repairs was not immediately available.

The sewage overflow also closed Lake Wheeler and Lake Benson to close. Richard Costello with Raleigh Parks and Recreation said on Wednesday that bacteria levels were rapidly returning to normal, but could not say exactly when the lakes would reopen.

No fish kill in either of the lakes has been observed.