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Despite explosion, network damage, DMV service continues in Lewiston

ITD, Nez Perce County partnership ensures outstanding customer service

On the surface, there appeared to be nothing unusual about applying for a new driver’s license, renewing an existing license or obtaining an identification card in north-central Idaho this week. Transactions at the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office were completed much the way they were the week before … and the month before.

What the public didn’t see, however, were efforts behind the scene to keep electronic systems functioning in the aftermath of a severed gas line, a violent explosion and damage to fiber optic network cable.

When workers on Lewiston’s Fifth Street construction project cut into a four-inch natural gas line Monday, Nov. 19, the resulting explosion and fireball rocked the city’s core near the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers. It also damaged the line that carried DMV transactions from the county courthouse to the sheriff’s complex in northern Lewiston.

No one was injured in the blast, but the break threatened a major disruption in DMV data processing.

Service was interrupted only briefly after the 1:30 p. m. accident until Nez Perce County IS (information services) Manager Randy Buttenhoff stepped in. He proposed use of the county’s virtual local area network (VLAN) and the microwave transmission of data between the courthouse and sheriff’s complex.

The temporary solution was in place and working well by Tuesday morning, preserving driver’s license and ID transactions. The secure VLAN continued to carry data transfers this week while local service providers repaired the fiber optics lines.

“We realized it was down Monday afternoon,” said Dan Babcock, an ITD network analyst in Boise. “We didn’t know about the microwave shot from the courthouse to the sheriff’s complex. We would have been down much longer and had more inconvenience to the public without the county’s solution.”

Babcock and Colleen Crane, an IT systems technician at District 2 in Lewiston, supported the county’s interim solution. They worked with Buttenhoff and the county’s technicians to ensure continued service, despite the potential for a catastrophic disruption.

The quick response represents a commitment to outstanding customer service and an ITD/Nez Perce County partnership that crosses jurisdictional and geographic boundaries.