Port’s fiber project nears completion

The end is near for construction of the Port of Whitman’s $14 million fiber optic network link through Whitman County.

Joe Poire, port executive director, reported to port commissioners at their regular meeting last Thursday, Aug. 2, that the Department of Transportation had issued its final permit, clearing the way for the strand fiber optic cable to be laid along Highway 27 from Oakesdale to Tekoa.

“So the light is on at the end of the tunnel,” said Port Commissioner Tom Kammerzell.

The SR 27 stretch is the last highway portion of the project to be laid. Debbie Snell, port properties and development manager, reported the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is closing in on issuing the port an easement to lay the cable on corps property near the Port of Wilma.

Poire estimated construction on the two final stretches will be finished in less than two weeks.

Work began last fall, as crews under lead contractor Henkels and McCoy of Coeur d’Alene bored conduit for the fiber into rights-of-way along state highways.

When finished, the network will have 170 miles of broadband fiber optic cable between Spokane and Clarkston to provide broadband internet access to Rosalia, Oakesdale, Garfield, Palouse, Pullman, Albion, Tekoa, Colfax, Colton and Uniontown.

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 their customers.

It starts in downtown Spokane and connects to an existing fiber line at the Port of Wilma.

The project was funded by a $12 million federal stimulus grant awarded in 2010.

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.