City of Santa Barbara officials say a Lash Construction crew working on the De la Vina Street bridge accidentally cut the fiber-optic line that led to this week's 9-1-1 communications outage.
City of Santa Barbara officials say a Lash Construction crew working on the De la Vina Street bridge accidentally cut the fiber-optic line that led to this week's 9-1-1 communications outage. Credit: Courtesy rendering

Lash Construction accidentally cut the fiber-optic cable that led to a widespread shutdown of 9-1-1 communications while doing work on the De la Vina Street bridge, according to Santa Barbara City Administrator Kelly McAdoo.

“We are still investigating the incident,” McAdoo said Thursday. “From what we know, Lash Construction crews accidentally cut the fiber line as part of the De la Vina bridge project. It was not city crews. The line does appear to have been identified as part of the utility service alert program.”

McAdoo said she didn’t have any further information. Lash Construction did not return a call from Noozhawk.

The 9-1-1 phone lines to local dispatch centers were down most of Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. The cutting of the Frontier fiber line also sparked a communications outage at the Federal Aviation Administration Santa Barbara Air Traffic Control Tower and Terminal Radar Approach Control. 

The FAA grounded flights at the Santa Barbara Airport for most of the day Tuesday, canceling at least 15 flights.

Santa Barbara is currently replacing the bridge over Mission Creek between Vernon Road and Alamar Avenue. The new bridge is designed to meet current structural and seismic standards.

In addition, the project will add curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalk markings, and rectangular rapid flashing beacons to improve pedestrian safety and access. Throughout construction, one-way traffic southbound on De la Vina Street will be maintained.

The City of Santa Barbara took over four properties by eminent domain in 2022 in order to repair the old bridge over Mission Creek. The City Council approved the move at a May meeting.

Marty’s Pizza at 2733 De la Vina St., Yellow Bird Music, then at 2726 De la Vina St., De la Vina Liquor at 2735 De la Vina St. and Mishay Salon at 2728 De la Vina St. all lost their buildings.

The buildings occupied by the pizza parlor and liquor store were partially on the bridge, and the building occupied by Yellow Bird Music and Mishay Salon were within an inch of the bridge.

The project is expected take two years to complete.

— Noozhawk South County editor Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.