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Natural gas outage affects some colleges, other areas of campus

To: UCSC Community

From: UCSC Public Affairs

January 06, 2011

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Update: 9 p.m., Thursday

  • Approximately 10 employees are working throughout the night to restore natural gas to affected areas.
  • Central campus gas is scheduled to be restored by 10 p.m., and heating systems to Colleges 9 and 10 dorms should be restored by midnight tonight.
  • Granite Construction will use heavy steel plates to cover the road and allow normal traffic flow for the rest of tonight.
  • Tomorrow morning, Granite Construction will backfill the excavation and repave the road. Normal traffic flow should be restored by end of the day on Friday.

Update: 4 p.m., Thursday

  • Natural gas has has been restored to Crown and Merrill Colleges.
  • Work is expected to continue at the site of the leak throughout the night.
  • The campus is working with a goal of having natural gas restored to all affected areas by Friday morning.
  • The dining hall at Colleges Nine/Ten is open, and some hot food has been brought in from other campus dining facilities.
  • The other four campus dining halls are open to all students.

At approximately 1 p.m. today, campus crews shut down a natural gas line that serves a large area of the campus core. This action was taken in response to a report and confirmation of a leak in a low-pressure line at the intersection of McLaughlin Drive and Chinquapin Road.

Campus crews are on site.

Vehicular traffic was initially rerouted away from the area; after the affected gas line was closed, both lanes reopened. But it is expected that McLaughlin will be reduced to a single lane when repair work begins shortly. Members of the campus community are, therefore, advised to avoid driving near the intersection if possible.

There is no current estimate about the time needed to complete repair work.

The natural-gas outage is affecting Colleges Nine and Ten, Social Sciences 1 and 2, Crown and Merrill Colleges, and the Student Health Center. The outage could affect heating, dining, and hot water in those areas.

Information about this outage will be updated on this web page, accessible via the UCSC home page at http://www.ucsc.edu.

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