Redmond Way has been reduced to one lane in each direction as a construction crew works to permanently fix a severed fiber optic cable that temporarily shut down 911 service for thousands of residents in Redmond and unincorporated King County on Tuesday.

About 20,000 residents were temporarily without 911 access from landline phones for about six hours on Tuesday after a construction crew accidentally severed a fiber optic cable at the corner of Redmond Way and 159th Place Northeast in Redmond.

The cable was severed around 2 p.m. The construction crew was able to temporarily patch the cable and service was restored around 8 p.m. Tuesday evening.

The temporary telephone outage limited residents’ ability to dial 911 from a land-line phone in the event of an emergency.

The outage only impacted some land-line telephones for residents in Redmond and unincorporated King County with telephone prefixes 425-881-xxxx or 425-883-xxxx.