natural gas leak shut down Ga. Highway 54 between

Peachtree City and Fayetteville for several hours

Wednesday afternoon.

Pete

Nelms, coordinator of Fayette's county-wide

hazardous materials team, said the leak was

caused by contractors boring under Hwy. 54 near

Oak Ridge Drive. The problem was discovered about

2:30 p.m.

For

a while, both lanes of traffic were halted and

later the eastbound lane was opened to two-way

traffic.

The

road wasn't fully reopened until after 11 p.m.,

Nelms said. Even then, the last emergency crew

didn't leave the scene until after 2 a.m. as

workers from Atlanta Gas Light Company finished

the repairs.

Only

one home was evacuated, though access to a nearby

subdivision was cut off for several hours, Nelms

added.

Residents

in the area were notified of the situation by a

phone call from a new automated emergency phone

system. The Fayette County Emergency Notification

System allows emergency officials to notify local

residents of emergencies in selected areas of the

county, Nelms said.

total of 157 homes were notified in just under

three minutes by the system, which was funded by

local industries, Nelms added.

The

calls weren't made right away since the system

hadn't been fully tested yet, he added.

"We

had pretty good success with it," Nelms

said.