Need To Know    

While fiber optic cable is gradually replacing the air traffic system's copper wire, "we're replacing in the same network we've used for 40 years," Duffy told a Fox News television interviewer. "We want to have a whole new network where this will never happen again." 

The New Jersey Transit project, known as the Delco Lead Storage and Inspection Project, involves creation of a flood-resilient yard that will provide safe storage for New Jersey Transit rail cars and locomotives during extreme weather events. A key contract had been awarded to Howell, N.J.-based George Harms Construction, according to New Jersey Transit.

It is not clear if a George Harms Construction crew or one from another contractor accidentally cut the cable. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

According to Common Ground Alliance, an underground utility trade group, there were 245,000 incidents of damage during ground work in the U.S. in 2025. The biggest causes included failure to contact a One Call Center, failure to maintain clearance from verified marks and the lack of or incorrectly made marks.

State laws establish the duties of both excavators and facility owners before any digging begins, according to the Burke Moore Law Group.

Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new smart AI search tool. Ask ENR →

In many such cases, the blame for the error and potential liability for the costs rests on the accuracy of ground markings.

At the New Brunswick jobsite, "preliminary information indicates the crew was operating approximately 10 ft from the utility markings," New Jersey Transit stated. The transit agency added that it is "determining whether it was Verizon or the contractor [that] made the utility markings at the site."

The disruption's root cause still is being sorted out. The cable connection was vital to northeast air-traffic control and required most of the day to repair. 

New Jersey Transit stated that the cable "served as a back-up to a primary circuit system that failed." But even that is not certain. The Federal Aviation Administration stated that the switch to the back-up fiber-optic cable was made in error.