Official: Workers Hit High-Pressure Gas Line, Prompting Evacuations And Road Closure Around Heinz Field
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A gas leak forced evacuations and the closure of several roads around Heinz Field on the city's North Shore Monday morning.
Right in front of Heinz Field, on General Robinson Street, gas could be seen and smelled spewing from the broken line. Police, fire and ambulance crews were all on standby as Peoples Gas workers made their way around the barriers around 8 a.m.
"Apparently, some workers had hit an eight-inch, high-pressure, plastic natural gas line and they were able to shut it off, but they did evacuate the Art Rooney-side of Heinz Field," said Pittsburgh Police spokesperson Cara Cruz.
Construction workers were also evacuated. The Rivers Casino, which sits nearby, was not affected.
"They also did block off around Stage AE, because that's where the wind was blowing," Cruz said.
Several people waited and watched from across the street.
Brad Solomon and his family are from Dover, New Hampshire, and had scheduled a 10 a.m. tour, but couldn't get in the stadium.
"We are actually visiting Pittsburgh for the first time," he said. "We went on a rickshaw tour last night, today we were supposed to go on a tour of Heinz Field."
There were no injuries.
However, several busy streets were shut down, including Reedsdale Street, Art Rooney Way and West General Robinson Street.
Before the streets will reopen, Peoples Gas crews will do meter tests to make certain the area is safe.
