Construction activity may have caused an aging water line to break on 120th Avenue Northeast, forcing the road to temporarily close and nearby businesses to lose water access for several hours on Monday night.

City Utilities spokeswoman Wendy Hairfield said crews responded to a broken 8-inch water main around 5 p.m. Monday at the southwest corner of 120th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Eighth Street, shutting off the main about a half hour later. Properties were undamaged, but businesses like Taco del Mar and Bartell Drugs were without water for several hours before service was restored.

It is believed vibrations and earth movement caused a break in the pipe, which was installed there by the city in the 1960s, said Hairfield. The city is in Phase 2 of constructing the 120th Avenue Northeast project, extending a new five-lane arterial 120th from Northeast Seventh to Northeast 12th streets. Bellevue city councilmembers approved increasing the Stage 2 project budget Aug. 4, awarding a $14.9 million construction contract to Goodfellow Bros., Inc., of Wenatchee.

“It might have been the fact that there was some construction, but it was not the contractor who did it,” Hairfield said.

Traffic is now back to normal, with one southbound and two northbound lanes now open. The broken pipe was deemed unnecessary by the city and will be abandoned, Hairfield said. The highest priortiy is to cut and cap the south end of the pipe so a temporary bypass providing businesses with water can be removed.