Mud bogs down fiber project

Muddy fields along roadsides means construction on the Port of Whitman County’s $14 million fiber optic network will have to wait awhile.

Joe Poire, port executive director, reported to port commissioners at their regular meeting last Thursday, Feb. 16, that work was set to finish the following day inside Pullman city limits.

That section, he said, is the last construction crews will be able to complete before the ground dries and state permits are acquired.

With a $12 million federal stimulus grant, contractors for the port are laying 170 miles of broadband fiber optic cable between Spokane and Clarkston. The line runs primarily in the right-of-ways along state highways and county roads.

The network runs along Spokane County roads from Spokane to Rosalia, then runs south along state Highways 270 and 27 through Oakesdale, Garfield and Palouse before reaching Pullman. The line then runs along county roads through Colton and Uniontown before descending the Snake River breaks to connect to an existing fiber line at the Port of Wilma. Secondary lines also run from Pullman to Colfax through Albion, and from Oakesdale to Tekoa along Highway 27.

Poire said the stretch from Garfield to Palouse could be done before ground firms because of the rocky terrain along the highway. State department of transportation officials, however, have not yet approved permits for that section of work.

“It’s too bad we don’t have that permitted. We could be working there right now,” said Poire.

Crews with contractor Henkels and McCoy have been laying conduit in the ground since last summer. Once it arrives, the fiber optic cable will be blown through the conduit with an air pressure system.

The cable itself, said Poire, is scheduled to arrive at a storage yard in Spangle on Feb. 29.

The port’s project is part of an overall $185 million project by utility consortium Northwest Open Access Network, or Noanet. Noanet’s project will install 800 miles of fiber optic network in unserved portions of rural Washington.

Initially, the fiber will be used to connect medical clinics and libraries to high-speed internet, increasing their ability to use and share online information.

The port will own the line when finished, and officials with the agency hope to lease access to the cable to private internet firms to bring high-speed service to private customers.