A private home’s water service line broke during the weekend, causing water to run down Fourth Street Southeast in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood for more than a day, said Robert Urquhart, a Minneapolis Public Works Department project engineer.

“With the cold weather, having water in the road is not a good deal,” Urquhart said.

He said that after the water service line broke, the contractors had to dig deep below the frost, which resulted in a big hole.

As of Wednesday afternoon, barricades were still up on both sides of the street, and one of three lanes was closed to traffic as a private contracting company worked to fix the street. Urquhart said engineers and contractors worked together to ensure Fourth Street Southeast was never entirely closed at one time.

The city of Minneapolis supplies water to the neighborhood, but a private service connects from the residence to the water main under the street, he said.

Urquhart said the line probably failed because of the cold weather.

He also said Marcy-Holmes is a “mature neighborhood” with aging developments that could add to infrastructure problems.

“Certainly things don’t get more healthy with age,” Urquhart said.