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Thursday, a dump truck hauling gravel to the Broad Street construction site brought the traffic lights down at the intersection of Broad and N. Sycamore streets when he tried to go through the intersection with his truck bed still up. As a result, he brought down the power lines, which crossed both Sycamore and Broad streets, as well as some lines southward on Sycamore Street. Traffic had to be detoured until late Thursday when the lines and poles were reinstalled.

Not only was traffic stopped at this location, but businesses such as Taco John’s and the Family Dollar store had to close early because customers were unable to get to them due to street closures.

Numerous workmen were at the scene into the night on Thursday working to get the lines back up and traffic lights working.

Until an incident like this happens, we don’t think about the importance of our linemen. Lineworkers are tasked with a deceptively simple job: keeping our homes and businesses powered and connected. They also keep traffic moving by making sure traffic lights are working.

They are out in all kinds of weather — the heat of summer, bitterly cold winter days. Thursday evening, work was halted briefly because of a rain shower. Despite the new technologies that are changing our electric grid, our electricity still travels from power plants to our homes and businesses via miles of power lines. Someone has to keep those lines functioning. The someones are the linemen with the Elizabethton Electric Company, as well as outside help that is often called in on a complex job like Thursday’s, when traffic lights were out and, in some cases, nearby businesses were without internet service.

It doesn’t matter what the trouble is — if it is electrical-related, the linemen are going to be out. They are the “trouble men.”

It doesn’t have to be a major event like Thursday’s — it can be thunderstorms, which are the worst time for the job. When branches bring down power lines or motorists slip on wet roads or ice and take out a utility pole, the “trouble men” — the repair crews — get called out to restore the power. Sometimes a utility pole has to be replaced, other times a transformer or downed power lines must be repaired.

Our homes are power generated. Almost every home in the city and county has electrical lights and electrical appliances — air conditioners, dishwashers, electric heating, big-screen TVs — which on a real hot or cold day can strain transformers that deliver power to individual houses. But when the power goes out, homeowners are quick to call the electric company, and very soon at your service is the lineman.

Some smart grid technology may keep the utility and its crew abreast of changes, but ultimately the linemen will still need to go out and fix the problems.

And that’s what they did Thursday when power lines were pulled down on a major street before lunch. They showed up within minutes and began assessing the problem. Also, city policemen came to help with traffic, and other city employees came to help, as well as the fire department.

Linemen rarely get the credit they deserve for all the work they do, yet they are so critical to our infrastructure. In Thursday’s case, they got the traffic lights up and traffic moving again in a matter of hours.

We salute our linemen and those who helped get service restored late Thursday and traffic moving again. You were Thursday’s heroes.