Comcast Florida will reimburse the Town of Miami Lakes for law enforcement costs after two construction accidents within five days happened along Northwest 67th Avenue and disrupted area businesses, traffic and gas and water services.
Town officials blamed contractors working for the cable provider after a gas line was cut Feb. 22 near Main Street.
On Feb. 26, workers damaged a 12-inch pressurized water pipe, flooding the avenue and causing a sinkhole that an SUV driver went into in front of Dunkin,’ officials said.
Traffic was detoured until repairs were finished the next morning.
The avenue is a county byway. But the town spent $3,600 in police overtime and expenses that Town Manager Edward Pidermann said will be paid back.
Comcast Florida has also committed to restore the sod and irrigation system and clean up sand on the avenue, in parking areas and drains, Pidermann said.
A spokesman for Comcast Florida said on March 5, “In situations like this, we accept responsibility and refund everybody. If a business needs a certain kind of fiber line, the contractor will put the board line in the ground.
“It’s complicated and messy work,” the Comcast Florida spokesman said. “This is not something that we want to happen. We want to be good neighbors and when we install services, we want to do that without interruption.”
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue were at the scene when the gas pipe was busted.
The county’s Water & Sewer Dept.’s workers responded to the flooded avenue and worked through the night, locating the pipe, rerouting water and turning off valves so they could fix it.
A boil water notice was issued “in an abundance of caution” for Truist Bank and after lab tests, was lifted on Feb. 29, the county said.