I’m pretty sure it is mainly just an expedient way to make all those bare lots safe for dozers and stuff that will be clearing them in the next few years. Don’t want a live gas riser among all that.
But it could have something to do with that. 2 birds with one stone and all that. If they were planning on hooking it up again then they might have dug down at the sidewalk and capped the laterals off there instead of going all the way back to the main line.
This should be a transparent issue but of course it’s not.