The California Department of Transportation will implement a new policy by July 1 that will install broadband conduit in projects on priority corridors when road work includes trenching, according to an announcement Monday from Assemblymember Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg.
“Caltrans has been a willing participant in discussions during the past two years as we have tried to move the needle on expanding Californians' access to broadband,” said Wood. “Adopting a ‘dig once’ policy for these priority areas is an important advancement, and we could not have done it without recognition by Caltrans that they play a meaningful role in facilitating expanded access to broadband.”
Wood called it a "great outcome."
As a result of the agreement, Wood said he will pull his legislation (AB 980) that would have required Caltrans to develop a dig-once policy.
“In addition to improving mobility, we realize many benefits to communities and businesses can be realized through collaboration,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty in a statement posted on Wood's website. “While performing our primary duty of maintaining California’s transportation infrastructure, it makes sense to achieve economies of scale where we can in order to maximize the benefits to Californians.”
Discussions about the policy started last year as Wood introduced, and the governor later signed, AB 1549, which directs Caltrans to keep an inventory and centralized database of the broadband conduits it owns that are located on state highway rights-of-way, and created a task force to work on the issue. The task force met for the first time recently.
Techwire wrote about the particulars of AB 980 earlier this year. Read more about that here.
"I participated in that meeting with Caltrans a couple of weeks ago. There was a genuine desire to cooperate with broadband infrastructure development efforts," blogged Steve Blum, president of Tellus Venture Associates, a consultancy specializing in community broadband systems.
