Broadband work begun in Manchester and Bridgewater Townships. Pleasant Lake’s broadband about to come online!
Pleasant Lake viewed from Reno Road. Photo by Dwight Burdette (Mirror File Photo)
submitted by Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners
The Washtenaw County Broadband Project is making great strides in 2023. Last September, the Board of Commissioners allocated $14.6 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to broadband expansion in an effort to get all areas of Washtenaw County connected to high-speed, reliable internet.
“The global pandemic put a spotlight on an issue that townships throughout Washtenaw County have been facing for decades — the lack of reliable internet,” Commissioner Shannon Beeman, District 3, said. “The Broadband project is some of the most important work the County is doing now to level the playing field across Washtenaw. This expansion connects students to schoolwork, seniors to needed services, local businesses to customers, families to healthcare, and much more.”
The Broadband Project is working with five internet service providers to connect all corners of Washtenaw — Comcast, Charter, Midwest Energy and Communications (MEC), Washtenaw Fiber Properties (WFP), and Mercury Broadband. These five providers have all begun work and residents can track the progress done to date by using this interactive GIS map, created and updated by Chris Scharrer, founder and CEO of DCS Technology Design, the firm contracted to oversee the Broadband Project.
“The ARPA funds are going to connect 3,000 underserved homes to high-speed broadband in Washtenaw County,” Scharrer explained. “The average cost in Michigan to connect a home to broadband is between $6,000 and $7,000, and here in Washtenaw, the County is spending around $4,500 per home. And thanks to a forward-thinking Board of Commissioners, who have been working on filling in these gaps since 2017, with all the new funding coming available, Washtenaw is way ahead of the oncoming surge of construction projects that will begin in 2024, which will certainly burden this effort across the state.”
Construction has started in Bridgewater and Manchester Townships and permits from the Washtenaw County Road Commission are in process for Webster, Northfield, and Dexter Townships. Freedom Township Hall, near Pleasant Lake in Southwest Washtenaw, has recently been connected to broadband. Homes around Pleasant Lake are now being brought online over the coming weeks as testing is completed.
“Nearly five years ago, a group including representatives from Senator Stabenow and Senator Peters’ office, plus Washtenaw County Commissioners, local leaders, technical experts, and residents, met at the Freedom Town Hall to discuss how to bring high-speed internet to our rural area,” Lon Nordeen, Pleasant Lake homeowner, said. “Finally, through a lot of hard work and leadership at the state and county levels, we are starting to see real benefits from this teamwork and cooperation.”
“The Broadband Project has been a massive undertaking and I am thrilled to see the progress we have made thus far in 2023,” Commissioner Maciejewski, District 1, said. “It is crucial that all our residents have access to high-speed broadband internet. I am looking forward to seeing more households get connected throughout the year.”
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