Homes cleared after accident on 248th

Three houses were evacuated and a section of streets blocked off after a car accident broke a natural gas device on 248th Avenue Southeast, near Southeast 17th Street, on Monday night.

Three houses were evacuated and a section of streets blocked off after a car accident broke a natural gas device on 248th Avenue Southeast, near Southeast 17th Street, on Monday night.

An 18-year-old Sammamish man has been charged with inattentive driving, after the car he was driving veered off the road and into an RTU, or Remote Transmitting Unit, operated by Puget Sound Energy. The force of the accident broke the unit, resulting in a minor gas leak.

According to police, the driver said he was trying to avoid potholes in the road, which is unpaved. The section of road has only recently come into the ownership of the City of Sammamish, who claimed the private easement to provide better connections along the eastern corridor of the Plateau.

This section of the road had previously been blocked with a makeshift barricade, preventing through traffic.

Issaquah Police, Eastside Fire and Rescue, and Puget Sound Energy attended the scene, evacuating the nearby houses and blocking off adjacent streets until the gas leak had been repaired.

Sammamish Police Sergeant Robert Baxter said the possibility of the leak causing an explosion was slim, and that houses were evacuated as a precaution.

248th resident Jim McGraw said the accident could have been catastrophic.

McGraw was a vocal opponent of the city’s move to take over ownership and maintenance of the road.

“Since the city opened up the road we have had nothing but problems,” he said. “The city, through strong-arm tactics, has taken over the road, but refuses to fix it.”

McGraw said that despite his warnings to the city that opening the road would demand vigilant monitoring from police, that had not occurred.

“There is speeding along the road, we have had vandalism, death threats, but we’re not getting the police protection,” he said.

Neither the driver nor his one passenger were injured in the accident.