A gas main break in Milford near I-95 shut down roads and forced businesses to evacuate for a few hours Monday.

Around 10:20 a.m., fire crews were called to Research Drive by the intersection with Woodmont Road after United Illuminating workers, who were digging to put in a pole, hit a gas main, according to Battalion Chief Jason Dombrowski. The damage caused a visible leak with what appeared to be gas shooting into the air.

“When fire department units arrived on scene, we found that it was a high-pressure line with pressures in excess of 45 to 60 psi,” Dombrowski told News 12.

Police blocked off Research Drive, part of Woodmont Road and Quarry Road as firefighters evacuated all businesses within a roughly 200-foot radius as a safety precaution. Dombrowski said tests done inside the buildings found zero levels of gas, in part because of the sunny weather.

“It helped us with the gas that was going up in the air. It wound up actually dispersing a lot quicker than normal,” Dombrowski said.

Crews from Southern Connecticut Gas responded to stop the leak, which was active for about 2 ½ hours.

“They actually used two clamps, and they clamped down the pipes, and that's how they were able to shut it off—one above the hole and one beyond the hole,” stated Dombrowski.

Around 1:30 p.m., businesses were notified they could return, and all roads reopened except the lower part of Research Drive. That remained blocked off a little longer as SCG crews continued to repair the main and restore service. It's estimated less than 50 commercial and industrial customers were affected.

SCG and UI are both owned by Avangrid. A company spokesperson told News 12 they're still investigating what happened but believe the pipe was hit due to insufficient markings on the pipe's location.

Dombrowski said no one was hurt or got sick during the incident.