About 1,600 Hermitage students were evacuated again Wednesday afternoon after a gas line break on North Hermitage Road near Hermitage Middle School. Last Friday, a gas line break had Hermitage students out of school for about half an hour.

There have been several similar breaks during the road-widening project.

Students from Hermitage and Delahunty middle schools and Artman and Hermitage elementary schools were evacuated from about 2:20 p.m. to about 2:50 p.m., according to a school spokesperson, who added that North Hermitage Road was shut down between Hickory High School and Hermitage Middle School during that time.

A spokesman from National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. said a contractor relocating one of the utility's gas lines hit a direct line that serves one of the schools. The gas line was shut down after the break, the spokesman said.

PennDOT civil engineer Bill Hanson said he didn't know much about what happened because he was in a meeting when the medium-pressure line broke. He said he was told it was fixed within a half hour and there were no evacuations.

He said the gas company's relocation team was apparently trying to move a line as part of the road project when the break occurred.

"It's their responsibility to read the plan, determine the drainage and move their utility to a lower point than the construction and that didn't happen," Hanson said.

"They are successful most of the time," he added.