A fiber-optic line cut during construction beneath West Broadway in south Dickinson affected hundreds of Consolidated customers Wednesday night and led to upward of $40,000 in damages for the telecommunications company.
Two major fiber-optic conduits were cut near the intersection of Broadway and South Main Avenue, Consolidated Chief Operating Officer Brian Personne said Thursday.
Western Municipal Construction, Inc., which contracts with the city of Dickinson and is working on the Broadway project, was responsible for the cut, city engineer Craig Kubas said. The cut was determined to be accidental, he said.
The outage affected Internet, cable TV and phone lines for almost all of southwest Dickinson from around 4 p.m. Wednesday to 1 a.m. Thursday. Personne estimated upwards of 550 homes and businesses were affected, including several along Villard Street.