Temporary traffic lights have been installed in Kendal as emergency work takes place after gas leaks were discovered.
Cadent, which manages the local gas network, has responded after a smell of gas was reported in the area.
Its teams have found two possible sources of this smell. Both are from a pipe that runs 1.4 metres below the road surface of the A6 Shap Road from the main pipe that feeds gas to heat the town’s homes.
Engineers are monitoring readings and the firm said it was satisfied that there was no risk to nearby properties, or to gas continuing to flow.
But it said the pipe needed to be repaired urgently and it was causing significant traffic issues locally.
The work started on Wednesday and is expected to continue into next week. Teams will work through the weekend to fix it, it added.
Kevin Thompson, Cadent’s customer operations area manager, said: “Our priority here is keeping everyone safe and keeping gas flowing to heat homes.
“We’ve taken action to ensure that and are now working to locate the leaks and get them repaired. Often, you find these are small leaks and can be very difficult to find quickly.
“This is causing traffic issues – as we have had to set up traffic lights to manage a safe flow of vehicles around the big excavations we have needed to dig in the road.
“We have teams ready to work through the weekend on this, working as quickly and as safely as we can to reopen the road fully. We appreciate everyone’s patience.”
