Motorists

in Peachtree City endured a major traffic bottleneck

nearly all day Monday while crews repaired a damaged

utility line that caused a natural gas leak.

Ga. Highway

74 was closed between Paschal Road and Ga. Highway 54

from about 11 a.m. Monday until just after midnight,

according to acting fire chief Stony Lohr.

The problem

was caused by a gas line that was installed beneath Hwy.

74 many years ago and "punched right through the

sewer line," Lohr said.

Over the

years, as the sewer line has seen an increase in volume,

debris has caused a hole to be formed in the gas line,

allowing gas to leak into the sewer main.

A number of

complaints have been received over the past few months

concerning an odor in the area near the U.S. Post Office

and Schlotsky's Deli, Lohr said, but the odor would come

and go and was difficult to pinpoint.

Finally,

some Peachtree City Water and Sewerage Authority

employees Monday morning looking for the source of the

odor pulled up a manhole cover and detected what they

believed was a high concentration of natural gas. The

Fire Department responded, and Atlanta Gas Light company

also was called in.

WASA uses a

gas monitor to check out areas for safety purposes before

actually putting people down manholes, according to

general manager Larry Turner. This time it showed a

combustible gas mixture - "it went off the

scale," Turner said.

Sewage can

generate hydrogen sulfide and methane when it goes

septic, Turner added. In this instance, an absence of

hydrogen sulfide readings on the monitor indicated that

the culprit was a gas leak.

After the

road was blocked, manholes were systematically checked

out until a worker just south of Villa Point climbed down

under the highway and could hear the leak.

One of

WASA's newest high-tech gadgets went about 55 feet into

the sewer line, using a remote-controlled television

camera, and located the actual spot of the damage.

"You could see the pipe cutting through the gas

line," said Lohr.

The feed

line into the neighboring residential area was turned

off, and gas company workers started digging up the

highway to fix the leak. Once the valve was turned off,

Lohr said, any potential danger from the leak was gone.

One

northbound lane was reopened at about 6 p.m. Monday,

while southbound drivers continued to detour along Clover

Reach and other side streets for a block or two.

The hole

has been filled and covered so that the highway can

remain open until it can be repaved in the next few

weeks.

"There

were no injuries, and no property damage," said

Lohr. "Just a big nuisance."