Gas line break leads to road closure in Meridian near Interstate 84
A half-mile section of Overland Road was partially closed for over six hours after a gas line break near the Walmart at 795 W. Overland in Meridian, forcing the evacuation of some businesses.
“The damage was caused by a third-party contractor using a bore machine to install fiber optic cables,” said Mark Snider, a spokesperson for Intermountain Gas, in an email to the Idaho Statesman.
Crews from Intermountain Gas worked to fix the break, which occurred around 9 a.m. Monday, said Jordan Robinson, public information officer for the Meridian Police Department, in an email.
Repairs required that the road be dug up, causing Overland to be closed to all traffic between South Stoddard and South Meridian roads, Meridian police said in a news release. The road runs just south of Roaring Springs Waterpark on the south side of Interstate 84.
“Out of an abundance of caution, some nearby businesses have evacuated,” the release said.
Police later reopened Overland’s westbound lanes by 11:25 a.m. At 2:45 p.m., the police department issued another release anticipating that all affected roads would reopen around 3:30 p.m.
A Walmart employee at the Overland store confirmed with the Statesman that as of 11:30 a.m., the store was no longer evacuated. Robinson verified at 11:50 a.m. that Walmart, Lowes, and a nearby bank had evacuated but that businesses were again “operating as normal.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM.
