Riverside Drive was closed to traffic and two homes were evacuated Wednesday afternoon between Union Street and Marchant Street after construction crews ruptured a natural gas line.
Watsonville Fire officials said the pipeline break was reported at 2:29pm in a section of the road that doubles as Highway 129, where major construction has been unfolding for over a year as part of the College Lake Pipeline Project.
Stepahnie Magallon of Pacific Gas and Electric said the rupture was repaired by 3am Thursday.
About 20 crew members from Pacific Gas and Electric rushed to the 100 block of Riverside Drive Wednesday after the break and could be seen working inside a deep trench where the College Lake pipeline is being installed. Traffic in east and westbound directions was rerouted around the site well past 8pm.
On Thursday morning, traffic flow had been reestablished through the site, however it was reduced to one lane due to ongoing water pipeline work.
Heavy equipment, a lengthy line of steel plates, regular road closures and major trench work has dominated sections of Riverside Drive between Walker and Bridge streets to make way for six miles of 30-inch water main pipeline that will transport treated water from a new College Lake facility on Holohan Road to more than 5,000 acres of farmland via the Coastal Distribution System already in place.
Construction on area roads for the pipeline project is scheduled to wrap up by the end of July, allowing traffic to return to normal conditions.
