After meeting with local utilities about their service lines by the Bagley Creek salmon habitat restoration project, state Department of Transportation officials said a misunderstanding led to lines to be cut for Wave broadband customers in Sequim and some Clallam PUD customers.

Officials with Wave and the PUD said services went out around 2:50 p.m. on July 24 with electricity restored around 8 p.m. for about 150 PUD customers, and an unknown amount of Wave customers’ internet, phone and television services were fully restored at 12:53 a.m. on July 25.

Tina Werner, spokesperson for WSDOT, said the agency’s previous statements in the July 28 story “Severed power, cable lines lead to outages in Sequim” (Sequim Gazette, July 28, page A-1) were incorrect that the PUD and Wave staff failed to relocate lines prior to construction.

“After WSDOT and all local utility providers met again on Tuesday, July 27, we learned that the PUD and Wave Broadband did move their lines, but our crews began work in an unanticipated location containing active utility lines,” Werner said.

“We are working with our inspectors and contractors to assess our practices for how we respond when we encounter presumed abandoned utility lines in a construction zone.

“WSDOT will ensure that Clallam County PUD and Wave Broadband are reimbursed for the temporary loss in service.”

Mark S. Peterson, spokesperson for Wave, said the company plans to issue a one-day service credit to affected customers by the end of the week.

Nicole Hartman, spokesperson for PUD, said the agency will work up an invoice for a claim to the contractor for labor and materials to restore the outage.

She said this is typical practice, similar to when a vehicle strikes a power pole in a wreck.

Werner said WSDOT is still evaluating the details of the utility outage and in communications with the utilities and the contractor “to ensure the incident is resolved to satisfaction.”

In the July 28 story, Werner said contractor Scarsella Brothers, Inc. was working below the waterline of Bagley Creek the day of the outage during a state Fish and Wildlife-approved work window to replace a box culvert.

Werner said crew members thought the lines they encountered were abandoned. However, Wave officials said they did mark and locate the lines prior to construction in the story.

Werner apologized for the agency in the July 28 story saying, “We are sorry for any disruption in service this caused nearby residents and are working to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Work on the approximate $36 million Bagley and Siebert creeks projects to open potential fish habitat is on track to finish this fall, Werner said.

For more about the project, visit wsdot.wa.gov/projects/us101/bagley-creek-siebert-creek/home.