Broken gas pipe causes building evacuations, street closures

Authorities evacuated several hundred people from four office buildings in Northwest Washington and closed five blocks to traffic Wednesday after construction workers accidentally broke an underground natural gas pipeline.

The street closures, around Sixth and D streets NW near the Verizon Center, were likely to slow traffic in the evening rush hour, officials said.

The workers broke the 2-inch high-pressure gas line at Sixth and D streets at about 2 p.m., said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the D.C. fire department.

He said the leaking gas prompted authorities to evacuate people from office buildings at 515 and 601 D Street and 601 and 625 Indiana Avenue. They also closed the 500 and 600 blocks of D and the 300, 400 and 500 blocks of Indiana, Piringer said.

After Washington Gas Co. workers stopped the leak around 3 p.m., Piringer said, people were allowed to return to the buildings. But he said some or all of the streets might remain closed for several more hours as repair work continues.