Crews investigating I-4 gas line leak

ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 WOFL) - FOX 35 is learning new details about what caused a traffic nightmare on Interstate 4. A gas line ruptured, shutting down the interstate in both directions for hours Monday. It happened in the middle of rush hour. 

Now one lawmaker is trying to figure out who’s at fault for the rupture and who will pay for it. 

State Representative Bob Cortes was asking the same question the rest of us were asking: “I said ‘what’s going on’”

Rep. Cortes just so happened to be meeting with the Florida Department of Transportation on Monday when it happened.

Now FOX 35 is learning the construction crews knew a gas line was there. FDOT says it’s investigating whether the crews took the proper precautions once they started digging. Cortes says they need to find out if the line was mislabeled or if the crew on scene made a mistake. 

“When they identified all the gas lines, it was not where the pylon was supposed to be driven on the straight line. This one had a jog moving in that was not identified when they did this,” said Rep. Cortes. 

Now SGL Contractors, TECO gas and FDOT are investigating who’s at fault. Representative Cortes estimates the cost of all this to be somewhere around $100,000.

“Potentially the vendor is going to be on the hook for paying for this or the state if it was something that the vendor was not at fault and could not have foreseen.”

The gas line is currently clamped, which is a temporary fix. A more permanent fix still needs to be made, but Cortes says I-4 won’t have to shut down for that. 

FDOT says the contractor needs to come up with a plan to ensure this doesn’t happen again.