Hundreds are affected as traffic is diverted around a gas leak

Creig P. Sherburne/Atascadero News

UPDATE: Friday, Feb. 8 at 9:35 a.m. — According to a press release issued by Atascadero City Fired Department and confirmed by Caltrans, the gas leak was caused while workers for Papich Construction, under contract to Caltrans, were doing work on Traffic Way under the Highway 101 overpass.

The press release also said it took two and a half hours to get the gas leak under control. Nine businesses were evacuated and five were "sheltered in place." There were no injuries or other damage.

ORIGINAL STORY: Thursday, Feb. 7 at 3 p.m. — Gas company workers, accompanied by Atascadero City Fire Department personnel, work feverishly to repair a ruptured gas line at Traffic Way and El Camino Real as school let out Thursday afternoon. Dozens of city employees, including police officers, police volunteers and city maintenance workers, directed traffic around the site in an effort to keep people safe. However, traffic was predictably clogged as at least four schools in the area released students around the same time as the gas rupture.



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