Customers of a popular internet and cable service will be without it for a few hours early Tuesday morning. Mediacom will move a portion of its fiber optic cables due to the I-17 bridge project.
Todd Curtis, Midwest Mediacom Vice President, says this will be the fourth time the company has had to move its cables due to the bridge project.
"We need to get off that portion of the old bridge. And, of course, the new bridge is not quite ready, so we have to relocate our fibers underground, and move our duct bank under the railroad track and around through the new bridge area to maintain service."
Mediacom customers in the Illinois counties of Rock Island, Whiteside, Carroll and Henry will be affected, as well as Iowa residents in Scott, Clinton, and Jackson counties. Construction will start at midnight and should be completed by Tuesday before 6 am.
Curtis says moving the cable allows for improvement.
"It gives us an opportunity to carry more data, because it will increase the glass counts of the number of fiber optic strands. And then, of course, it'll allow - as we reroute this - a little more of a diverse path, so that if there's damage on one side it wont affect the entire ring."
Curtis says there will be more interruptions while the new I-74 bridge is under construction. But, after it's finished, the service outages should end.