TYLER COUNTY, W.Va. — Eighteen months is how long the executive director of the Tyler County Development Authority tells MetroNews he’s hoping it’ll take to roll out new broadband service in Tyler County to be paid for with $3.5 million in federal funding.
The money will be in the form of a recently-announced ReConnect 50/50 grant and loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We felt we had a strong application, but we knew that it was a tough competition and we were very pleased to see that, in the first round, we were awarded these funds,” Eric Peters with TCDA said of Tyler County’s application encompassing 86 pages.
Plans called the installation of 74 miles of new broadband fiber optic cable in Tyler County largely utilizing existing aboveground poles and towers to provide service to 3,291 county residents at 1,366 homes, businesses and farms.
Along with Tyler County, Wetzel County has been awarded a $2.09 million grant from the USDA’s ReConnect Program which is dedicated to providing rural high-speed broadband infrastructure for qualifying communities.
The application period for a second round of $550 million in available funding was scheduled to begin on Jan. 30, 2020.
In Tyler County, Peters said current service challenges likely enhanced the county’s application.
“We had a county seat that did not have broadband unless it was a dedicated line, for example, to the courthouse,” he said. “We had people unable to really get the benefit of the digital age in our county seat itself.”
Middlebourne is the county seat in Tyler County.
Also in line for broadband service from this project with Middlebourne are Pursley, Centerville, Alma and Shirley.
The team behind Tyler County’s application was made up of representatives from the Tyler County Development Authority, the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Planning and Development Council, Thompson and Litton, planning consultants, and CityNet.
Going forward, CityNet will lead construction of the infrastructure the company will eventually lease from the Tyler County Development Authority making it publicly-owned infrastructure.
In general, the project covers a 26.13 square mile service area starting at Route 18 and Smith Ridge Road, located southeast of Sistersville, and continues south along both the Route 18 and Route 23 corridors to the Doddridge County line.
“Those corridors, particularly between Sistersville and Middlebourne and on out to Alma and Centerville, those roads are lined with homes,” Peters said.
Additionally, the build out with serve a health clinic, several volunteer fire departments and other public facilities.
“We’re optimistic that maybe 18 months is a reasonable goal to set,” Peters said. “It may not be available that quickly, but we’re going to strive for that goal.”