Construction problems associated with digging for 5G lines plague area neighborhoods

SAN ANTONIO - The promise of 5G – which increases the speed of wireless networks - is being offset by the trauma some constructions crews are causing to residents who watch helplessly as their neighborhoods get dug up for weeks and even months.

For the past five months, people in the Triana neighborhood in northwest San Antonio have watched crews dig up the landscape and cause a variety of problems.

“I would have hoped after one or two incidents they would have been able to accommodate their plan to avoid further damage to our property,” says Katy Schultz, a Triana resident.

Instead, she has watched crews puncture her water line – not once, but twice.

“They actually broke the pipe and blew the meter out of the box,” she says, shaking her head. “It caused flooding into my back yard and into the neighbor’s yard.”

The situation was actually worse across the street, where a gas line was ruptured on Monday.

“All of a sudden the entire neighborhood has been torn up and now we’re in actually dangerous conditions,” says Yvelle Christian, a resident in the community whose yard was damaged, but repaired. “We understand it’s a necessary evil for the 5K lining but it could have been done a better way.”

We talked to one of the workers on location today who explained the problems they crews are having.

“It’s a hard process because it is solid rock so it’s hard to drill,” says Carlos Medina, a locator for Patriot.

He described the gas issue this way: “The problem is no (one) marked the gas. That’s why I hit the gas.”

Medina says the work in this community could be done as soon as next week. Residents remain skeptical.

“I don’t know that I’ll be purchasing AT&T’s fiber,” Schultz says, “but I’ll just be thankful once it’s over.”

If you have concerns with how the 5G project is going in your neighborhood, you can file a complaint with AT&T by calling 1-855-365-4976. For more information, go to https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1041856/.

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