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Cables connecting phone, cable and internet service come out of a wall connector in the home space exploration engineering office of Mike Loucks in Harbor, Wash., in the San Juan Islands in this 2015 file photo.
Cables connecting phone, cable and internet service come out of a wall connector in the home space exploration engineering office of Mike Loucks in Harbor, Wash., in the San Juan Islands in this 2015 file photo.
A pilot program designed to bring high-speed internet to rural areas in Washington County is being rolled out near Avella, with the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village the most prominent customer getting connected to the broadband service.
The county commissioners recently awarded a contract for $179,700 to Hickory Telephone for the Mt. Pleasant Township-based company to extend its Aurora fiber-optic internet lines to 50 homes and Meadowcroft.
If successful, the county’s Rural Broadband Initiative program could be implemented to extend high-speed internet to other underserved areas in the county with the help of federal American Rescue Plan Act stimulus money. The overall project could take three years to complete and spend up to $30 million in ARPA money, which is nearly one-third of the county’s total allotment.
“Broadband access is a critical need to participate in today’s society. For students using remote learning, employees working out of their homes, patients connecting with their doctors using telemedicine, it has become critical to our daily lives,” said John Timney, executive director of the Washington County Authority, which is leading the broadband expansion effort. “No example has been greater to illustrate the need for connectivity than the restrictions related to COVID-19. This pandemic has shown our reliance of connectivity related to work, safety, education and telemedicine.”
Hickory Telephone CEO Brian Jeffers said the homes they’re working now to connect to its broadband grid are currently using T1 lines, which is a communications relic when it comes to transmission, making internet access slow and unreliable. Jeffers added that this pilot program near Avella will allow county officials to determine whether it’s successful and if changes are needed when going to other areas.
“They didn’t want to start too big,” Jeffers said. “They wanted to start a pilot program and see how it went. Then they want to go to other parts of the county. It’s a small geographic area.”
The biggest beneficiary might be Meadowcroft, which has struggled with slow and intermittent internet service, hampering its ability to provide distance learning opportunities to far-flung schools. Meadowcroft Director Dave Scofield said the high-speed internet will allow them to offer teaching sessions through video conferencing, along with other in-depth online programs.
“It’s huge for us. For a long time, we have struggled just being able to perform simple business functions,” Scofield said. “There really is a variety of things that are going to improve for us because of this project. I’m really grateful to the county for including us in the pilot portion of the project.”
In addition to Meadowcroft, about 50 homes on Fallen Timber Road, Pine Flats Road and Bert Road west of Avella will be hooked up to the service. Residents ultimately have the choice whether or not to subscribe to Hickory Telephone’s Aurora service, and the company will be sending mailers with information to them when it becomes available in mid-March. The number of customers who sign up could determine the success of the program and whether it expands.
“The county is making efforts to get broadband out to places where it’s lacking,” Jeffers said. “And we were in a position to service those people and get it up quickly.”
Hickory currently services about 2,000 customers in and around the village along Route 50 that bears its name. Hickory Telephone and other communications companies are expected to bid on providing internet service to rural areas in Washington County once the pilot program expands.
“They wanted to see something a small project they could see end-to-end and see what they could learn or do different before they bid out these larger projects as they come down the pike,” Jeffers said.
Ironically, county officials are asking residents in those underserved areas to email them at BroadbandHelp@co.washington.pa.us so the County Authority can log location and send updates when necessary. A comprehensive report by Tilson Technology Management on the broadband initiative will be released in about six months.
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