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Port of Lewiston Crossing Bridges: Network Forges Ahead
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Port of Lewiston’s open access dark fiber network continues to move toward completion. Construction crews are burying fiber lines at multiple project sites around Lewiston. In the past few weeks, the network crossed to the north side of Clearwater River via the Memorial Bridge, where it will link to Whitman County’s fiber network.
A recent article from the Port of Lewiston listed completed sections of the network,
“So far, it reaches major employers such as St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, Lewis-Clark State College, Regence and the Vista Outdoor plant at 11th and Snake River avenues.”
The article also outlined the projects to be completed by September 1st,
“They will reach the industrial district by the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport, Clearwater Paper, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and the Southway Bridge. At the bridge, the lines will connect with an Asotin County network built by the Port of Clarkston.”
Questions From The Past
Memorial Bridge is only the first of two bridge crossings necessary for the completion of the Lewiston-Whitman-Asotin fiber network. The Southway Bridge crosses the Snake River to Asotin County. Conduit access rights stalled construction progress across the river. We wrote about the negotiations in a story from earlier this summer.
Readers may recall that there was a question with Centurylink's right to have conduit on the bridge and whether or not they owned the conduit or where the provider's potential ownership rights ended. To iron out the details, the Port of Lewiston filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the bridge builders.
The Lewiston Tribune (also reprinted in 4-Traders) reported that the Port of Clarkston has reached an agreement for conduit access on the Idaho side of the Southway Bridge,
“CenturyLink granted the Port of Clarkston use of one its 20 conduits on the Washington side of the bridge, enough room to meet the community's needs for as many as 60 years, Port Manager Wanda Keefer said… Ideally, the lines will be live by Sept. 1 to accommodate a customer… Before that can happen, CenturyLink needs to iron out issues with Asotin and Nez Perce counties and the cities of Lewiston and Clarkston, which own the bridge.”
The bridge was built in the 1980s and no one has been able to locate documentation that describes the length of Centurylink's easement on the bridge. Centurylink pays $0 for the use of the bridge, which is another issue that may be re-examined as the parties move forward. According to a local official, the Port of Lewiston has not yet come to an agreement with the involved parties, but negotiations are making progress.
Connecting And Competing
Thus far, the Port of Lewiston has spent roughly $600,000 on the network infrastructure project designed to promote competition among Internet service providers and spur economic development. "We think it's going to provide connectivity to our community so we can compete with almost anywhere in the world," [Port Manager Wanda] Keefer said.
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