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CO-fiberOptic April 13, 2005 |
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR: GOVERNOR WARNER ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT TO COMPLETE FIBER OPTIC NETWORK FOR SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA
RICHMOND - Governor Mark R. Warner announced that the last remaining hurdle has been cleared to provide an advanced telecommunications infrastructure "backbone" to help make high-speed Internet accessibility available to an estimated 700,000 Virginians and more than 19,000 businesses throughout Southside Virginia. The Governor made the announcement via videoconference from Richmond to Danville.
"Wiring Southside with broadband technology has now cleared its final hurdle," said Governor Warner. "When I campaigned for this job, it was partly to help try to get the Information age economy right, in every region of Virginia. This project - now off the drawing board - puts us 700 miles closer to that dream."
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the non-profit Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative have signed an agreement that will allow fiber optic lines to be installed within state right-of-way along limited access roadways. The installation of fiber optic lines on other roadways has already begun in the Farmville to Keysville leg, and the signed agreement between VDOT and the Cooperative clears the way for the completion of the Regional Backbone Initiative announced last June.
When the backbone is completed in March of 2006, an extensive fiber-optic network will cover more than 700 miles, connecting five cities, 20 counties and 56 industrial parks in southern Virginia. This regional infrastructure will be made available to all providers to tap off the backbone on a competitively neutral wholesale basis.
As part of the agreement, the Cooperative will provide VDOT with free access to fiber strands for smart traffic technologies - such as roadway cameras, traffic sensors, traffic signal synchronizations and other systems that are used to help motorists reach their destinations more safely and quickly.
The $27 million fiber optic project is funded by the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Committee and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The fiber-optic network was created and advanced by the Regional Backbone and Roots of Progress Initiative. The initiative will connect the cities of Bedford, Danville, Emporia, Lynchburg and Martinsville, as well as the counties of Amelia, Appomattox, Bedford, Brunswick, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Franklin, Greensville, Halifax, Henry, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Prince Edward and Sussex.
The initiative is a partnership of Virginia's Tobacco Commission, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration, the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative, and others from the private sector, government and non-profit community.
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Page last modified: April 13, 2005
