The flow of traffic on Hickory Street was slowed for about two hours Friday morning and as a result, the flow of information to a downtown Warren business was opened up.

Verizon ran fiber optic cable from the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Hickory Street to Third Avenue, across to Liberty Street and down Liberty to McKissock.

According to Verizon, there are 24 fibers in the cable.

“We’re running some fiber for McKissock – right into the building,” Verizon’s Brett McElhatten said.

Because of the location of the manhole at the intersection of Third and Hickory, traffic had to be restricted to one lane while personnel were feeding the cable at that location. At the other two corners the Verizon trucks could be parked in parking spaces, creating minimal problems for motorists at those locations.

To run the line from corner to corner, the crew members used air pressure.

Verizon’s Jeff Ceriola said a string was tied to a plastic ‘parachute’ which was forced through the conduit using air.

When the string reached the next access point, a heavier line was tied to it and pulled through. The fiber was then connected to that line and the crew used spooling equipment to pull it through.

The conduit under Third Avenue was one-and-a- half inches in diameter, while the one under Liberty Street was four inches.