A fiber optic company that previously was blocked from laying down cables in Columbia has now been told to stop working in another Midlands community after causing utility damage this week.
Lumos Fiber was told to stop work in the Murraywood neighborhood of Irmo on Friday after a water line strike that caused several households to lose service and damaged a roadway in the area.
“[It] is of the best interest to cease work immediately in Lexington County due to the damages done in Murraywood Subdivision,” the Lexington County Public Works Department wrote in an email to Lumos, shared with The State. “We require a Corrective Action Plan approved by Lexington County Public Works for repairs at this location.”
The decision follows a water line strike on Willow Bend Court on Wednesday. A break to a Columbia Water line sent water gushing down the roadway and required water service to the area to be cut for several hours. Clint Shealy with Columbia Water said at the time the city had not confirmed whether a sinkhole had opened up underneath the pavement, but “if there isn’t we’re going to cause one” in order to gain access to the damaged pipe, Shealy said.
Shealy couldn’t say how extensive the damage was at the time, and the city would need to review to see whether the line was properly marked. If it was, he said they’d make an insurance claim against the company for the damage.
This is the latest setback for the North Carolina-based fiber optic company in attempting to expand high-speed internet access in the Midlands.
Last year, the city of Columbia halted work by Lumos after its crews caused half a dozen gas leaks, including one that required several residents of the Elmwood Park neighborhood to be temporarily evacuated from their homes and the closure of busy Elmwood Avenue.
Lumos later was permitted to resume work laying fiber optics, which are key to carrying high-speed internet signals long distance, even as more problems emerged over the summer when crews struck water mains in parts of Columbia .
But that hasn’t stopped the company from moving into Lexington County . Lumos announced last fall that it had received the proper franchise agreements with Columbia, West Columbia and Irmo to start laying 1,200 miles of fiber-optic cable between Richland and Lexington counties.
Lumos began laying cables in the Irmo area just last week as part of its buildout in the area that a company executive told The State would also include installing WiFi in town parks.
It was unclear how long it will take Lumos to come up with a corrective action plan, or when Public Works might approve the company resuming work if they do.
A county spokesperson said no deadline had been set for the plan. A spokesperson for Lumos did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Friday morning.
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