Part of Sardis Road closed Friday afternoon after it was washed out during heavy rains.
The section affected is between the Sardis compactor site and Sardis Elementary School and will be shut down until further notice.
“You don’t want to take any chances,” Hall County Administrator Randy Knighton said.
Knighton said county employees are working with the on-call contractor on road repairs with site work expected to begin Monday.
The contractor will have to assess the damage to the pipe before any estimate can be given on how long it will take to fix it, Hall County spokeswoman Katie Crumley said.
County officials and Georgia Department of Natural Resources officers huddled around a feed of a camera moving around to look at the pipe.
Based on the camera transmissions, officials said they believe it was a metal pipe with a hole in the top of it.
“You could see the air bubbling back and forth,” Hall County Commissioner Scott Gibbs said.
Gibbs said officials were unsure of what agency installed the pipe.
Hall County School Superintendent Will Schofield said bus routes were altered Friday for students at Sardis elementary and Chestatee Academy.
State prisoners were directing traffic as well as locating the gas lines, said Hall County north district road maintenance supervisor Tim Nicholson.
The buses will travel down Fran Mar Drive, where Chestatee Academy is located, emptying out west of the washout on Sardis Road.
Sardis Elementary Assistant Principal Staci Wagner said a good number of parents elected to pick their child up early but said there were no big issues with checking out at the end of the school day.
“It went as smoothly as it always does,” she said.
Wagner said the bus plans for students is likely to be affected through the rest of next week. Routes may change and pickup times for children riding the bus can be earlier or later, she said.
Schofield said it amounted to about a five-minute detour. A news release from the school system advised buses may be later dropping of students.
“But obviously it looks like it will be a while before we can go over that stretch of road again,” he added.