UPDATE 4:35 PM EDT -- Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, Philadelphia, and Teterboro Airports SHUT DOWN!

The largest airports in American's most-densely populated area are SHUT DOWN today, because a construction crew ripped out an underground Fiber Optic line from Verizon.

The line apparently controls Air-Traffic Control equipment like Radar and Radio.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a "Ground Stop" at Newark, Teterboro (the largest small plane airport in the entire Untied States) and Philadelphia International Airoports, at about 10:00 AM and then expanded the Ground Stop to John F. Kennedy (JFK) and LaGuardia airports in New York City at around 1:00 PM local time.

The Fiber Optic Line was cut somewhere between Newark and New Brunswick, NJ, and Verizon says it will take 13 hours to fix it.

All air traffic into and out of the New York City metropolitan area is now stopped.

UPDATE 4:35 PM EDT --

An Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey which caused a telecom outage and forced FAA to pause flights in the Northeast.

Right now:

• Flights are resuming at LGA and PHL

• - Flights into EWR, JFK, and Teterboro Airport are paused

This incident underscores the need for additional funding to modernize aging infrastructure and prevent disruptions like this in the future.