Ruptured gas main closes busy Decatur road for hours

DECATUR, Ga. — A ruptured gas main forced the closure of a major Decatur road for more than three hours Thursday. 

A gas company representative said an independent contractor accidentally cut a 2-inch plastic gas main along North Decatur Road shortly after noon.
 
Emergency responders decided to close North Decatur between Clairmont Road and Druid Hills High School. Though they did not evacuate any nearby homes or businesses, the closure did severely affect traffic along that busy stretch of road.
 
"It's pretty unfortunate," said Emory University student Alex Pani.  "It's like the main route from Emory to all those nearby apartments and grocery store areas."
 
The road closure also affected several nearby businesses which were cut off from many customers.
 
"We're still open, but [there's] no business because no one can get by to come in," said Willy's restaurant manager Terrence Glover. 
 
Pita House restaurant co-owner Ammar Kareem said the gas main break couldn't have come at a worse time. 
 
"Business was really good," said Kareem.  "This is lunch time, when we get our business. We had a lot of customers, but as soon as they blocked the street, it really hurt the business."
 
Crews reopened North Decatur a little more than three hours after the closure, but one lane in either direction remained closed.

WSBTV