Workers on sewer project rupture gas lines twice in 4 days

A contractor working for the Orange County Sanitation District ruptured gas lines twice in four days during a sewer pipeline project along Coast Highway in Newport Beach, officials said.

In September, the Sanitation District began rehabilitating a sewer pipe that channels wastewater beneath the busy stretch of the highway known as Mariner’s Mile. The city notified motorists at the time that traveling along Mariner’s Mile during the project would not be easy.

Traffic became even more snarled after workers ruptured gas lines twice in the same location.

Last Saturday, an employee of Kiewit, a Nebraska-based construction contractor, hit a shallow 1-inch gas line while excavating a trench at West Coast Highway and Riverside Drive.

Newport Beach police issued an advisory asking motorists to avoid the area for two hours.

Southern California Gas Co. crews replaced the line with a temporary line above ground, according to the Sanitation District.

On Wednesday, another Kiewit employee was using an excavator to dig a trench and hit the exposed temporary line with the back of the machine. The line began to leak gas around 6 p.m. and was repaired by 10 p.m., officials said.

“The first situation was something that commonly happens with construction,” said Jennifer Cabral, a Sanitation District spokeswoman. “The second incident was an operator error.”

The employee in the second incident is no longer working on the project, Cabral said.