Port’s fiber optic line now 1,200 feet short of finish

Around 1,200 feet of hillside above the Port of Wilma is all that remains of the Port of Whitman County’s $14 million project to run a fiber optic network link through Whitman County.

Joe Poire, port executive director, reported to port commissioners at their regular meeting last Thursday, Sept. 20, that a line of fiber optic cable needs to be buried in ground overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just north of the Port of Wilma to finish installation of the cable.

Crews from contractor Henkels and McCoy laid fiber optic cable last month between Oakesdale and Tekoa to finish the bulk of...