Line repaired
By John Joyce
Published in News on August 14, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Goldsboro police officer Will Smith directs traffic away from the blocked portion of Berkeley Boulevard on Thursday as efforts are made to stop the natural gas leak.
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A construction crew hired to work on sewer lines along North Berkeley Boulevard as part of the N.C. Department of Transportation road widening effort between New Hope Road and Royall Avenue severed a gas line Thursday morning, prompting officials to shut down the road for nearly five hours.
"A northbound lane opened up at 2:20 p.m.," NCDOT communications officer Jennifer Heiss said. "The other lanes remained closed until 3:30."
Goldsboro Fire Department assistant fire chief Frank Sasser said the leak was called in at 10:37 a.m. after crews working on the sewers at North Berkeley Boulevard hit a gas line near Boyette Drive. The area is residential, but only one evacuation attempt was made.
"We went to evacuate 1505 N. Berkeley," Sasser said. "But when we got there, we found it was vacant."
Fire trucks and Goldsboro Police Department vehicles blocked traffic at both ends of the cordoned off area, rerouting traffic from the north down Central Heights Road. Traffic coming from the south on Berkeley was turned around using the T.J. Maxx shopping center across the street from Adamsville Baptist Church.
Piedmont Natural Gas was called to the scene and had to dig to find the leak. The source was located and shut down by 1 p.m.
"Natural gas is lighter than air so it rises straight up in the air," Sasser said.
Even so, firefighters remained at the scene until 1:30 to ensure there was no peripheral danger after the gas had dissipated.
DOT and law enforcement remained on scene until repairs to the gas line were completed before reopening North Berkeley Boulevard.