For the second time in about one week, a makeshift lake formed on southbound Interstate 280 and the Highway 87 connector in San Jose led to multiple lane closures and a traffic headache for morning commuters.
During the height of the flooding around 6:15 a.m. Thursday, three right lanes of southbound Interstate 280 and the connector to Highway 87 were completely blocked by the accumulating groundwater, but has since been reopened.
A pump designed to clear groundwater from the impacted area blew a fuse, triggering the early morning flooding, according to a spokeperson for Santa Clara County.
Caltrans maintenance crews and contractors were on the scene repairing the pump. The agency says it had been working on the broken one and a back up pipe since the initial accident until it broke again Thursday.
"This Is going to keep happening sporadically and it’s been happening for years," said Guadalupe River Conservation group volunteer Roger Castillo.
The California Highway Patrol reported at 8:27 a.m. that all lanes of the freeway and the connector reopened after crews were able to drain the water and remove the soggy debris that piled up on the pavement.
Last Wednesday, a similar large body of water accumulated in the same area on the freeway, also leading to the closure of three lanes of southbound Interstate 280 and the connector to Highway 87 at one point.
