By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A 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.

A 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.