Gwinnett Daily Post

TUCKER -- Officials still have not contained a methane gas leak that caused an explosion Sunday.

For the third day, AT&T staffers and Georgia Environmental Protection Division officials worked to purge methane from an underground vault that encapsulates telephone lines.

Two southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 29 between Summerwalk Parkway and Jimmy Carter Boulevard, where three manholes had become dislodged about 1 p.m. Sunday, remained closed Tuesday.

EPD spokesman Kevin Chambers said officials have not determined a long-range solution for the methane, which officials believe is leaking from a nearby closed landfill.

"We have to keep the fans going to keep the methane levels from going back up," Chambers said, adding that the gas continues to get trapped in two of the vaults.

"It's very complicated, coming off that landfill," he said. "(Officials) are talking to engineers and geologists."