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Stimulus funds may extend broadband
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009
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ANNAPOLIS — A portion of the $4 billion in federal stimulus money that Maryland expects to receive may breathe new life into a rural broadband project that has been depleted of state funds amid the budget crunch.
Officials told Southern Maryland legislators Friday that the project qualifies for federal aid because it is shovel-ready and likely would create jobs and stimulate economic growth.
"This cannot be built without stimulus money," said Wayne Clark, executive director of the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland, which is an advocate for extending broadband access to remote communities that currently lacks high-speed Internet service.
The first phase of the project – laying fiber from Wallops Island in Virginia up Maryland's Eastern Shore to the Chesapeake Bay bridge — is complete. But with no money in the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development's budget for rural broadband, the next stage to extend high-speed cable to Southern Maryland is at a standstill.
The only money available is a $3.5 million federal economic development grant.
"It's going to take many years to hit Western Maryland and to complete Southern Maryland if that's all the money we have left," Clark said.
Plans call for fiber optic cable to be laid from the Bay Bridge south through Anne Arundel County following Route 2/4 into Calvert County and over the Gov. Thomas Johnson Memorial Bridge into St. Mary's County. It would then follow Route 234 into Charles County and up Route 301 to Waldorf. Three secondary routes would extend fiber over the Patuxent River at Benedict, along Route 235 between St. Mary's and Charles counties and into remote areas of western Charles County.
From there, the 36 member organizations of the Maryland Broadband Cooperative would provide the "last mile of service" to reach rural communities.
The statewide network would eventually reach the distant communities in Western Maryland. The price tag to build out the entire network in the next three years is $94 million, Clark said.
Southern Maryland Delegation Chairwoman Sally Y. Jameson (D-Charles) said Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has expressed interest in using part of the stimulus money for the rural broadband project.
O'Malley's communications director Rick Abbruzzese confirmed that rural broadband is a "prime candidate" for stimulus funds. "Continuing to expand broadband access does exactly what the stimulus intends to do, which is put people to work every day," he said.
