Steamboat Springs Gets a Grant for Fiber for the Future

Last we checked in with Steamboat Springs they had just finished a connectivity project. Now the community is taking another step to improve local connectivity in this northwest Colorado ski resort town.

The goal is to connect large community anchor institutions throughout town with a fiber backbone which could become the basis for a larger network. Several community anchor institutions have pooled their resources and pledged $748,000 while also securing a matching grant to install 9 miles of fiber across the small town of 12,000. Funding is in place, but the agreement between the institutions must be finalized before sending out an official request for proposals to find a company to install the fiber.

Matching Grants & Community Connectivity

The Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) intends to match the community’s contributions towards the project. DOLA will provide $748,000 in grant money for the fiber backbone. According to Routt County Manager Tom Sullivan in Steamboat Today, the fiber design will have splice points to allow private providers to provide last-mile connectivity to residents’ homes and businesses from the fiber backbone.

So far, the large institutions pitching in for the 9 miles of fiber are: Routt County’s public safety complex, Yampa Valley Electric Association, the city of Steamboat Springs Mountain Fire Station, Yampa Valley Medical Center, Colorado Mountain College, and the Steamboat Springs School District. Several of these institutions had previously collaborated with the Northwest Colorado Broadband group and the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association on the community's first connectivity project.

The Carrier Neutral Location

The first publicly owned project in Steamboat Springs was a Carrier Neutral Location (CNL). It's a space owned and maintained by a neutral party where providers can connect to each other to provide redundancy. It's especially useful for middle- and last-mile providers to connect to one another. The facility drives down the cost of bandwidth for community anchor institutions and service providers because they no longer require a separate facility for connections. Put another way, it aggregates the demand for bandwidth and leads to cost-savings.

In Steamboat Springs, the CNL is a room in a school district building. The CNL has allowed local anchor institutions to negotiate tenfold savings. For more information on CNLs, check out our podcast with Tim Miles, the Technology Director at Steamboat Springs and South Routt School Districts.

Voting Matters

In November 2015, citizens opted out of SB152, a state law prohibiting local governments from developing municipal network to improve Internet connectivity. Without that vote, the latest project would not have become a reality due to the state barrier. Now Steamboat Springs has the option to continue developing its infrastructure for high-speed Internet for the whole community, including residents’ homes.