Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices will resume normal operations on Tuesday, June 23, following an outage caused by a fiber optic cable cut. The incident occurred when a backhoe accidentally severed the cables at a construction site in Las Vegas. This disruption affected the DMV and several other state agencies on June 22.
State engineers and the data services vendor managed to reroute internet traffic through alternative cables, restoring many services by 3 p.m. However, a complete resolution is expected to take up to 24 hours.
The outage coincided with the DMV's new policy of serving only customers with appointments at its metropolitan offices. This change applies to locations in Carson City, Henderson, Las Vegas, and Reno as of June 22. Walk-in customers are now directed to use online services or kiosks or to schedule an appointment if necessary.
"Appointments are the best way to ensure we are able to keep our customers and staff safe during this new era of social distancing," stated DMV Director Julie Butler. "But the basic instructions we have in place for our reopening haven’t changed. Visit our website first, use online services or kiosks if possible, and if you do have to come in, make sure you are prepared for a successful visit."
Appointments can be made on the DMV website at dmvnv.com. The DMV will continue offering limited services until mid-July. Those who can legally drive are advised to delay their visits while urgent needs are prioritized.