Gas leak closes Berkeley
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on July 15, 2016 1:46 PM
Traffic on North Berkeley Boulevard and several surrounding roads was blocked off and rerouted Thursday afternoon when a construction crew hit a gas line at the corner of North Berkeley Boulevard and Cashwell Drive.
Assistant Goldsboro Fire Chief James Farfour said construction crews were working on the new shopping center at the corner of North Berkeley Boulevard and Cashwell Drive when they struck a gas line and it began leaking.
Farfour said nobody was evacuated from the area but traffic was rerouted in case gas readings in the area became volatile.
"With the wind the gas is dissipating pretty quickly," Farfour said. "We rerouted traffic in case the gas readings change, because a vehicle has too many ways to find an ignition point."
The incident happened at 3:22 p.m.
Piedmont Natural Gas Company, the Goldsboro Fire Department and the Goldsboro Police Department all responded to the scene to aid with gas readings and directing traffic.
For the duration of the incident -- which lasted slightly more than an hour -- the readings of all gas levels remained at zero and did not pose a danger, Farfour said.
The 500 block of North Berkeley Boulevard, North Eastgate Drive, Mall Road from Spence Avenue to North Berkeley Boulevard and Cashwell Drive from Spence Avenue to North Berkeley Boulevard were all closed for the incident that lasted one hour and 20 minutes.
Traffic returned to normal just before 4:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon.