Grant PUD fiber project at the finish line

EPHRATA — A Grant County Public Utility District project that has been in the works since 2000 is about 5 miles from the finish. The last piece of the PUD fiber optic buildout is projected for completion by early December.  

The last section under construction is along Johnson Road Northwest, west of Soap Lake. Completion of the project will mean all PUD customers will have access to the utility’s fiber network, wrote Christine Pratt, utility public affairs officer, in a press release.  

The PUD provides what is called the fiber backbone. Terry McKenzie, PUD senior manager for wholesale fiber, said in an earlier interview that PUD provides the access point, and customers can then find a service provider to connect them to fiber service. McKenzie said the exception is landowners who declined to provide access to property or maintenance easements.  

Commissioners voted in 2018 to finish the buildout with a target date of 2024. 

Tom Flint has been on the PUD commission since the start of the project in 2000 and said in a separate interview that it’s good to have it finished. 

“I always had a feeling it would be great for our county,” Flint said. “It’s a great feeling of satisfaction that it’s going to be done and everybody is going to benefit from it.” 

The Washington Legislature authorized public utility districts to provide wholesale fiber optic services in 2000. Pratt said the PUD started preparing in 1999 with a pilot project to test the technology.  

Pratt wrote that the first phase extended fiber to most Grant County cities and towns. Expanding the network throughout the rural areas of Grant County was a different challenge. 

As the commission changed, support for the project waxed and waned, Flint said. 

“At times, not everybody was on board with it,” he said. 

The final phases started prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic demonstrated the potential of fiber, Flint said. 

“It’s been a long project. I think, though, if you look at the nation and Washington, Grant (County PUD) probably will be one of the first ones to complete the whole area, to fill in. It’s not just a have and have-not. It’s going to be a complete build,” McKenzie said. 

“And almost all with our own money,” she added. 

Ryan Holterhoff, PUD senior policy analyst for government affairs, said in an earlier interview the utility received a $1.6 million grant and loan package for one section in 2018. The rest of the project was funded by the PUD, he said. 

North Sky Communications was the contractor hired in 2019 to finish the project, and PUD commissioners complimented them and all the PUD employees who were part of the buildout at the Nov. 12 regular meeting. 

“You all deserve a round of applause,” Commissioner Terry Pyle said. 

With the backbone complete by year’s end, the focus will shift to upgrading the system, Flint said. Equipment installed in the beginning phases of the project is aging and, in some cases, obsolete. 

“We’re starting to go through and update different components to upgrade and bring it up to today’s standards,” he said.  

Flint said fiber has the potential to increase opportunity countywide, not only now but into the future. 

“It’s going to be interesting to see what our kids do with it that we haven’t even thought about,” he said. 

    Crews from Blue Sky Communications work on the last stretch of fiber optic cable installation. When they’re done it will complete a Grant County PUD project that began in 2000.