BATON ROUGE - Crews shut off a portion of Bluebonnet Boulevard near the Mall of Louisiana due to a gas leak Tuesday, causing major delays in the area. 

Workers first closed off both directions of the highway at the I-10 overpass shortly before noon Tuesday. DOTD said the closure was prompted by a gas leak in a nearby building along Bluebonnet. 

The roadway was reopened before 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Back-ups on the highway were stretching from Perkins Road to Jefferson Highway.