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Halfway is where the Rock County Broadband Alliance Project stands this week as crews race to bury underground fiber before the ground freezes.
“The project is going well,” said Andy Hulcher with Alliance Communications of Garretson, South Dakota. “Michels Construction and the subcontractors have done a great job.”
Hulcher estimates fiber construction is about two weeks behind the projected timeline, primarily due to rainy weather conditions that have plagued the project since it began four months ago.
The project that encompasses 554 miles will bring fiber-to-the-premise broadband Internet to rural residents as well as residents in Beaver Creek, Jasper (Rock County side), Hardwick and Magnolia.
Construction consists of boring the main fiber ring plus fiber drops to individual premises. Crews return to connect the premises to the main line and set up the service in individual homes and businesses.
Boring of the main line began April 11 in northwest Rock County because of the challenge of burying the fiber at least two feet in the ground.
“The Jasper area presented some unique obstacles, and they had to modify construction a bit to accommodate for rock in that area,” Hulcher said.
Crews finished burying fiber in the Jasper area in July and have moved to the Hardwick area in late July.
Hulcher estimated crews have finished 55 percent of the fiber-to-the-premise drops, and mainline crews are about 45 percent done.
Crews have not started installing inside premises but have finished splicing drop connections to the mainline in the Beaver Creek area. Attention has now turned to splicing in the Jasper area.
To catch up on the project’s timeline, crews have been working weekends.
“If the weather cooperates we might be able to complete burying all remaining areas before the ground freezes,” Hulcher said. “It could be close.”
According to stipulations from the state of Minnesota, Alliance has until June 2017 to complete all installations.
The Rock County Broadband Alliance received a $5 million grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Rock County contributed $1 million to the project with Alliance providing the rest of the monies for the $14 million project.
Rock County Broadband Alliance is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alliance.