A gas line break caused an evacuation of about 1,600 Hermitage students for about a half hour and shut down service at the Shenango Valley Mall for about five hours Friday.

A medium-sized gas line just south of Hickory United Methodist Church in front of the Hermitage Middle School entrance was broken by a subcontractor for PennDOT around 10 a.m., according to PennDOT civil engineer Bill Hanson.

"He was digging for an inlet and the plans showed the four-inch gas line at a lower depth than it was," said Hanson, who is the project manager for the state Route 18 construction project.

According to a school spokesperson, the students from Hermitage Middle School, Delahunty Middle School, Artman Elementary School and Hermitage Elementary School were directed to a grassy area behind the buildings.

Employees of National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. were on the scene right after 10 a.m. and shut down the line which fed into the mall and the church. Restoring service took about five hours because gas company workers had to make sure service to all customers was shut off while they replaced the line, then turn service back on at each location, said Nancy Taylor, National Fuel spokesperson.

Service was back up by 3 p.m. according to Nello DelGreco, general manager of the mall. "The only businesses greatly affected by the problem were Scotto's Pizza and the hair salons with no hot water. They took the brunt of the problem," he said.

Hanson said the road project should be finished by the first week of November. Paving starts Monday after 7 p.m. and will continue through Sept. 20, he said, adding that PennDOT will work with businesses open in the evening to make the make paving as convenient as possible for them. Once the road is paved, PennDOT will finish up with signal work, embankment work, top soil and seeding placement and clean up, Hanson said.