Utility break slows Ridge

Already-restricted Ridge Avenue slowed further Monday evening due to a severed telephone cable. At least four AT&T trucks, as well as a backhoe, responded to repair the break north of Church St. Sewer work and re-paving on Ridge have recently extended to the area between Church and Clark St.

The damaged wire appears to be an old lead-shielded paper-core cable of the type that would carry one hundred or more phone lines. Lines of this type are extremely time-consuming to splice, as they predate unique color-coding of individual pairs.