A subcontractor crew working on the Temecula Parkway Interchange upgrade project accidentally struck a 4-inch gas main near the parkway underpass by the 15 Freeway early Thursday, Jan. 25, causing parkway and freeway ramp closures for hours, according to authorities.
Some lanes were closed up to 14 hours, but the city of Temecula reported all roads had reopened by 4 p.m.
The heavily used north-south 15 Freeway commute route never closed, but at the city’s request the California Highway Patrol shut down parkway ramps in both directions between La Paz Road and Old Town Front Street.
A crew was working on an underground storm drain and “to the best of my knowledge it (the gas line) was accidentally hit by a piece of equipment,” about 1:30 a.m., according to Avlin Odviar, the city of Temecula’s project manager for the parkway project.
Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire crews arrived and shut down roads with assistance of the California Highway Patrol. Traffic was rerouted through the city.
Temecula CHP spokesman Officer Mike Lassig said his agency’s role was to shut down the ramps and maintain the closures because the leak was in the parkway underpass, directly under the northbound freeway lanes.
“Luckily no one was hurt,” Odviar said. There were no evacuation of residences or businesses in the area.
Southern California Gas Co. crews arrived about 3:30 a.m. and began work to temporarily stop the leak.
A gas company spokeswoman wrote in an email that the gas leak was stopped at about 9:20 a.m. and crews finished their work on a permanent repair by 3:45 p.m.
The construction contractor was filling the hole by about 3:30 p.m., Odviar said.
The freeway ramps had been closed at about 3:10 a.m. and Caltrans issued a SigAlert at 3:15 a.m.
Officials with Riverside County Department of Public Health and the South Coast Air Quality Management District arrived to assess the situation and Odviar said there were no concerns raised about air quality.
The presence of utility lines is marked on the surface of roadways and then prior to digging there is potholing done, which Odviar described as non-mechanized “very careful digging” to locate utility lines. The position of each line is clearly identified before an excavator comes in to slowing dig and expose the lines.
The city’s $52 million Temecula Parkway 15 Freeway interchange project is designed to eliminate the long queue of cars on the southbound 15 Freeway that creates a traffic-squeezing bottleneck at the final exit before the San Diego County line.
There also will be improvements to northbound ramps, plus additional lanes at nearby intersections.
The parkway going east also is known as Highway 79 South and leads to Pechanga Parkway and the Pechanga Resort & Casino.
The project, which began last summer, is expected to be completed by December. Most of the work is during the day but night work is scheduled when roads like the parkway need to be shut down to minimize traffic impacts.
Information about the project and construction schedule is available at https://1579south.info/ or from a hotline 866-679-4900.
Staff writers Steven Rosenberg and John Plessel, and City News Service contributed to this report.
[contf] [contfnew] 
daily news
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
