Fiber-Optic `Backbone' Gets Boost ; $6 Million Grant Will Help Install 300 Miles of Cable in Hard-Hit Southside Virginia
Posted on: Friday, 21 May 2004, 06:00 CDT
A $6 million grant to help install about 300 miles of fiber- optic cable in Southside Virginia was announced yesterday by federal officials, who projected 1,560 new, higher-wage jobs for the region.
The U.S. Department of Commerce grant will match $6 million awarded by the Virginia tobacco commission to build the fiber-optic "backbone" to serve 35 business, commercial and industrial parks in Southside.
The project will assist businesses along U.S. 58 from Patrick County to Greensville County, along U.S. 220 from Martinsville to Rocky Mount and along U.S. 360 from Halifax to Keysville.
U.S. Sen. George Allen, one of three Virginia Republicans making the announcement, said the broadband initiative is projected to create $143 million in new investments.
The grant represents "a great leap forward, and an opportunity for the people of Southside to be able to reap the benefits of the Silicon Dominion," Allen said. He was joined by U.S. Sen. John W. Warner and 5th District Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr.
An enlarged image of a federal check written to Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative Inc. of Richmond was presented by a Commerce Department official during a media event at the Capitol. The nonprofit cooperative will administer the federal money.
The grant is the largest made by the Economic Development Administration this year, according to the Commerce Department. The EDA serves as a venture-capital resource to help distressed communities. Southside has been hard-hit by a decline in the tobacco and textile industries.
Southside and Southwest Virginia have long identified a need to upgrade or install modern telecommunications, and the "e58" project announced earlier calls for fiber optics running from Tidewater to Lee County following the path of U.S. 58.
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