A construction crew hit a gas pipe and caused a large leak on Route 83 at the border of Long Grove and Mundelein Thursday afternoon, leading to a full road closure and repair efforts that took several hours.
The Countryside Fire Protection District and Mundelein Fire Department responded around 12:50 p.m. Thursday to Route 83 and Osage Road on the border of Long Grove and Mundelein for a report of a natural gas leak.
A spokesperson for North Shore Gas told Lake & McHenry County Scanner that a construction crew hit a gas pipe, causing a leak along Route 83 just north of Osage Road.
The construction crew was not affiliated with North Shore Gas, the spokesperson said.
North Shore Gas crews, along with other utility companies like Nicor Gas, USIC and ComEd, responded to the scene.
Heavy equipment, like excavators, was also brought to dig into the ground.
Crews stopped the leak and worked for the entire afternoon and into the evening to repair the pipe that was hit.
The leak caused gas service to be temporarily affected for two customers in the area.
Firefighters, along with a Lake County sheriff’s deputy, shut down all lanes of Route 83 between Route 45 and Osage Road while crews tended to the leak.
The road closure caused significant congestion on Osage Road, Meadow Lane Road and Willow Springs Road as passenger cars and large commercial vehicles were forced to detour.
All lanes of Route 83 were later reopened except the northbound right lane just south of Route 45 while crews continued to work.
The right lane was reopened and crews cleared the scene just before 7 p.m. Thursday.