If the California Department of Transportation plans roadwork where conduit for fiber cables could be laid, it must notify broadband providers under legislation approved Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The idea is to allow broadband providers to piggyback on scheduled construction in an effort to speed the installation of fiber networks at less expense, especially in the rural areas of the state where high-speed Internet remains elusive.
“We are now two steps away from a paramount shift in broadband infrastructure,” bill author Assemblymember Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, said in a statement after the committee vote.
AB 1549 would apply to construction projects that are parallel to the highway, span at least two overpasses, and involve construction methods suitable for broadband conduit installations.
If no broadband provider is willing to install conduits, the bill would require Caltrans to install its own conduit for future use. Costs to install broadband conduits can range from $185,000 to $290,000 per mile, according to figures in the bill analysis.
Lawmakers argued those costs, and public inconvenience from construction, would be lessened if roadwork and broadband installation were combined.
“Streets and highways are turned up every time a broadband company expands coverage by laying down high-speed Internet cables, which undoubtedly leads to traffic congestion and closed roads,” Wood told the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month. “Sometimes the road is dug up twice, once by Caltrans and later the broadband company.”
In 2006, then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order that required such public-private partnerships. However, Caltrans, which created a pilot program, failed to notify the broadband consortiums that serve rural areas, Wood said. Caltrans ended the program in 2014.
His bill would also require Caltrans to maintain a database that inventories all department-owned broadband conduits installed in state highway rights-of-way after Jan. 1, 2017. That information must be made available to local governments, nonprofit organizations, and cable TV and phone companies working on broadband deployment.
Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, said such a database is desperately needed so Caltrans itself can avoid inadvertently disrupting broadband service.
“Earlier this year, a Caltrans backhoe went through a critical fiber line in Humboldt, which cut service to over 100,000 customers along with local 911 emergency call centers for nearly 24 hours,” McGuire said in a news release.
The Department of Finance has opposed to the measure, citing the cost of creating the database, estimated at $915,000 for software, hardware and staffing to support the database and website, according to the latest bill analysis.
AB 1549 now moves to the Senate Floor for a vote.
