NATCHEZ — The water shooting out of the broken water pipe that closed a section of U.S. 61 North near the St. Catherine Creek Bridge has been shut off, opening the road back up to traffic.

Natchez Water Works Superintendent David Gardner said a contractor doing highway work on U.S. 61 hit one of the service lines causing it to shoot water onto the bridge.

“Fortunately he only hit one of our small lines,” he said. “The area where he hit the lines is where the water mains go into the city, so we are lucky he did not hit one of those.”

Gardner said he was concerned when he first heard about the pipe bursting due to the location, but the city was able to fix the leak by shutting off water from the area of Wendy’s to Ryan’s Buffet.

“The town was in no jeopardy of losing water,” he said.

Gardner said the problem has been solved, and everything is back to normal.

The water gushing onto the bridge did cause slippery and icy conditions.

Natchez police officers were working two minor accidents on the bridge and traffic was backed up to Seargent Prentiss Boulevard this morning.

Crews from the Mississippi Department of Transportation and Natchez Water Works are working to put sand and salt on the bridge to help in the event of icing conditions.