Update: The roads that were closed Friday afternoon in downtown Patchogue due to a gas line rupture are now open.
“It’s safe. It’s open. Everything’s good,” said Patchogue’s public works superintendent, Joseph Dean.
Sections of Main Street and Ocean Avenue were closed to traffic about 2:30 p.m. Friday and remained closed until around 10:30 p.m. Friday night.
Original story: The ongoing electrical work in downtown Patchogue resulted in an accidental gas line rupture Friday afternoon that has shut Main Street to traffic.
Main Street is closed between Maple Avenue and Havens Avenue — as is Ocean Avenue between Terry Street and Oak Street, according to the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce.
“Pretty much all of the downtown,” said Patchogue’s public works superintendent, Joseph Dean. No evacuations were ordered. Pedestrians are allowed on Main Street and elsewhere.
Although some restaurants went without gas Friday afternoon, the gas was available again around 4 p.m, said David Kennedy, the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce’s executive director.
For a short time it looked as if the restaurants would not have any gas, possibly for more than on night — just as nicer weather arrived.
“The restaurants rely on gas,” Kennedy said.
But, “the parking lots are all open and the businesses can stay open,” he later said. “It seems like they were able to isolate the problem.”
However, the roadways are expected to be closed through the night and into Saturday.
Dean said a contractor working for PSEG struck a gas line at the Four Corners intersection shortly before 2:30 p.m., but it was still unclear how bad the damage was.
PSEG representatives are working on ascertaining exactly what happened and will be notifying the public as well.
“PSEG hired a contractor to run an underground electrical conduit so they could supply more power to Main Street, because we’re running out of power,” Dean said. “National Grid is on scene. It looks like they have a lot of resources devoted to this.”
PSEG’s plan, as reported earlier this month by the chamber, was to run a line from Electric Street up River Avenue to West Main Street, continuing east on West Main Street to North Ocean, then run up North Ocean Avenue to Oak Street. The work was expected to be completed by mid-June.
Check back for updates.
Photo: Workers on the scene of the Four Corners intersection at Main Street and Ocean Avenue in Patchogue. (Credit: David Kennedy)
