Longboat reopens road after gas line break

Update: Town authorities said Gulf of Mexico Drive reopened around 4:30 p.m.

Original story: A gas line break this afternoon has prompted first-responders on Longboat Key to shut down both lanes of Gulf of Mexico Drive. It was underground boring equipment that hit the gas line. 

Traffic is halted at Bay Isles Parkway.

The call was reported around 1:30 p.m.

According to Susan Phillips, the assistant to the town manager, the town is going to keep traffic moving during the repair of the gas line through detours. 

If coming from the north heading south, drivers will turn in Bay Isles Road and go past the tennis center then behind the gates to Harbourside Road before coming out of the Bay Isles community's south entrance. The Longboat Key Club is opening those two gates so traffic can route through there. 

If coming from the south heading north, drivers will turn in the south entrance of Bay Isles, pass the Moorings and emerge from the community near Bay Isles Road, and continue on. 

The gas line break is at the intersection of Bay Isles Parkway and Gulf of Mexico Drive. 

Three teams from Teco Gas, a natural gas company that serves Longboat Key, along with the Longboat Key Fire Department, are out to fix the rupture of the four-inch underground gas line. 

This is a developing story that will be updated when possible.