SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — Route 61 between Schuylkill Mall Road and West Hancock Street was closed for almost eight hours Wednesday after a gas line was hit by a contractor working on the Frackville to St Clair Reconstruction Project.
All lanes were closed around 8am forcing drivers in Schuylkill County to find alternate routes, and closing some businesses
Although the road reopened around 4pm, the majority of the stores at this nearby shopping complex had to shut down for the day.
"We were really looking forward to the ice chais, the ice chais lattes and sometimes we also pick up a doughnut from Dunkin, yeah we were really looking forward to that." said Agatha Jadwiszczok of Morea.
Only three stores were open in the entire complex, one of them being Walmart.
"It's really crowded in there and there's so much footwork and I get stopped about like every five seconds trying to get through all of the customers, it's so bad in there. And all I'm trying to do is take out orders and I can barely do my job." said Lynzey Harkins, a Walmart employee.
Even though Walmart was so busy, patrons of the other businesses in the complex were left disappointed due to the gas leak.
"In Mount Carmel there's restaurants but there's not really high-end places to go and eat, everything's a half hour away so, a little disappointing." said John Perry of Mount Carmel.
Crews are still continuing to work on fixing up the gas leak, PennDOT officials say to use caution when driving through the area.