Fiber on the Move: New Buildout

The next phase of Jefferson County PUD’s multiyear, $65M broadband build out begins in October. Contract construction crews are gearing up to build 100 miles of overhead and underground fiber optic cable between Discovery Bay and Marrowstone Island.

Plans for construction have been underway since late 2021. PUD fiber will pass more than 1,000 homes in designated areas on Marrowstone Island, along Anderson Lake Road, inside the Woodland Hills community east of Rhody Drive, and along much of the eastern shore of Discovery Bay before extending inland across Cape George over to Hastings Avenue.

“Generally, we have funding to build fiber to wherever cable internet isn’t currently available,” said the PUD’s Broadband and Communications Director Will O’Donnell. “We started in Quilcene last year and built north towards Gardiner. Now we’re moving to rural residential areas outside of Port Townsend. Starting late next summer, we’ll be building from Chimacum down past Port Ludlow to Coyle.”

According to O’Donnell, construction largely follows the path of existing PUD powerlines. But on Marrowstone Island, underground trenching will take place alongside existing power poles on Flagler Road. Starting at the Kilisut Harbor Bridge to the south and extending four miles north to Nolton Road, excavation contractors will place underground conduit for both new fiber optic cable and future undergrounding of existing overhead electric wires.

“Undergrounding electric on Flagler is part of the PUD’s commission approved Four-Year Work Plan,” said O’Donnell. “Putting the powerlines underground eliminates tree-related outages. The Department of Transportation has also expressed interest in seeing the poles go away. Combining the work saves a lot of cost.”

During construction, partial blockages and lane closures will affect traffic on the state highway. Private drives and county roads along the eastern side of Flagler will be closed temporarily. Work will take place from 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, from October through December. The PUD and its underground contractor, Mastec North America, will work with residents to reduce and restore any impacted areas.

While construction starts in October, customers are unlikely to have service until 2026, according to O’Donnell. “There are many steps that have to be completed before we can get customers connected to the internet inside their home.”

Mastec and overhead contractor Olympic Electric will work to complete all construction of fiber to the outside of the home. The final step, bringing the fiber inside the home and connecting customers to the internet, is completed by the PUD’s in-house network technicians.

 

Total project cost is estimated at $13M, with $11.5M funded by grants from the Washington State Public Works Board and the State Broadband Office, as well as a $750K match from Jefferson County, with the remaining cash match provided by the PUD.

“Because this project is majority grant funded, most customers do not have to pay a fee to get the fiber inside their home or business,” said O’Donnell. “But our funding only covers the first 60-70% of residents to sign up in project area. Latecomers are asked to pay a $750 construction charge to cover part of the cost of building to the home. For businesses, it’s $1200. The PUD also allows payment over 36 months as an adder to the utility bill.”

Once connected, customers on the PUD’s fiber network can choose between both monthly service levels and service providers. “The PUD operates what is called an Open Access network,” said O’Donnell, “meaning other internet service providers can pay to use our fiber infrastructure to reach customers. It gives customers choice and flexibility. But no matter who provides the service, data caps and throttling are banned on our network.”

Internet from the PUD starts at $65 a month for 150 Mbps upload and download speeds and includes a WiFi router. Customers enrolled in the PUD’s electric and water payment assistance program pay $30 a month for 150 Mbps service. The PUD also offers 1-Gig or 3 Gbps residential service. Business customers can access speeds up to 10 Gbps.

“My favorite thing to tell customers is that we are providing faster internet in Quilcene than most of Seattle,” said O’Donnell. “Every home that we build fiber to has the ability to get 10-Gig service. Our basic service is 10-20 times faster than what rural customers can get today. At basically the same price.”

PUD network technicians are currently installing fiber in Quilcene and Chimacum. They will move north along western Discovery Bay to Gardiner later this year. Over 400 customers have been added to the PUD’s new fiber network as of September 30th. O’Donnell expects the number to increase to 1000 by early-2026, and 4000 by 2028.

“We have 5000 customers registered and waiting for fiber today. Our biggest challenge is getting it to them,” said O’Donnell. “We’ve built over 200 miles of fiber to date. We have 400 more to go, through some rough country, with a lot of shoreline and a lot of trees, and homes spread far apart. But that’s where we live, and we’re excited to get our rural friends and neighbors connected.”