Natural gas leak leads to temporary closure of a block of Bellevue Way downtown

Bellevue Way between Northeast Eighth Street and Northeast 10th was closed down for an hour Wednesday after a construction crew nicked a small, unmarked natural gas line.

Bellevue Fire Department spokesman Lt. Eric Keenan said a construction crew was doing road work in the area, limiting the street to one open lane, when the pipe was broken at 11:01 a.m.

Several fire trucks responded as a precaution and the road was shut down. The only business affected was Wendy’s on the corner of Bellevue Way and Northeast 10th Street, only because of the isolation caused by the street closure.

Keenan said several people in the Bellevue Hyatt Regency and Bellevue Place office building inhaled the gas, but none needed medical treatment.

Fire and construction crews patched the leak at 12:09 p.m. No one was injured, and no evacuations were necessary, Keenan said.