photo by: Jackson Barton

A Black Hills Energy crew works on a damaged natural gas pipeline near 1700 W. Sixth St. on June 28, 2019.

A gas leak caused emergency responders to shut down traffic on a major Lawrence street at the beginning of the afternoon commute on Friday, a Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical official said.

The gas leak began just before 4 p.m. Friday at 1701 W. Sixth St., just east of Iowa Street in the area near Wisconsin Street, Fire Medical division chief Tom Fagan said in an email to the Journal-World. Fagan said the leak was caused when construction crews struck a gas line while digging with heavy machinery.

The area of Sixth and Wisconsin streets has been the site of construction for a Casey’s General Store and gas station, the Journal-World has previously reported.

Fagan said the street was closed to traffic for about an hour as Black Hills Energy crews began repairing the gas line. The road was reopened shortly before 5 p.m., Fagan said.

Attempts to contact Black Hills were not successful Friday evening. A Journal-World reporter on the scene shortly after 7 p.m. saw Black Hills crews still working on the line. When the Journal-World revisited the scene at 9:30 p.m., the workers had left.

1700 W 6th St, Lawrence, KS 66044