The Queens Midtown Tunnel has fully reopened late afternoon Wednesday after a leak temporarily closed it in both directions, officials said. 

City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said the north tube had been temporarily converted to handle traffic to Queens and into Manhattan while the south tube was closed to traffic. 

According to Josh Kraus, chief infrastructure officer at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, preliminary information found that around 12:30 p.m. a drilling contractor, who was performing investigative work for the UN Esplanade project at the East River waterfront, "accidentally drilled a small amount on the outside edge” of the tunnel.

“We are continuing to investigate exactly how and why this occurred,” Kraus said at a press briefing Wednesday. 

President of MTA Bridges and Tunnels Catherine T. Sheridan said the contractor drilled a 2.5-inch hole through the “cast iron liner above the exhaust duct.”

A plug was temporarily placed to “subside” the leak, Sheridan said. 

"We will come back later and do a more permanent repair," she said. 

Officials had encouraged New Yorkers to take public transportation, as traffic delays were expected.

“We have traffic in both directions in the bridges right now. There will be ongoing traffic delays from that,” Assemblymember Alex Bores, D-Manhattan, said at the press briefing. “We encourage New Yorkers to take mass transit and to find alternative ways to move forward, but the situation in the tunnel is safe and being repaired.”