Splicing in FSA 03, north of the village center, has been completed, leaving only the areas blocked by the utility make-ready to complete the network construction! Testers have begun work in West Charlemont!
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Category: Make-Ready
Information about Charlemont Connect make-ready. Make-ready is work to prepare a “path” for the distribution network to run throughout the town. Most of this work is done by the utilities (National Grid and Verizon) to make space on existing utility poles. In some cases, the town may perform make-ready work by installing new underground conduit (e.g. near the town hall or on Hawk Hill Road) or new utility poles (e.g. on the west end of Tower Road) to create a cost-effective path for the distribution network.
The splicing in FSA 04 in East Charlemont has finished! The next step is the fiber testing which will begin once these specialized teams are available. Availability of splicing and testing continues to drive the overall schedule.
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Our distribution network contractor, TriWire, has completed the Chickly River crossing in FSA 02! There remains one more Deerfield River crossing at Shunpike in FSA 02, expected to be completed this month.
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Charlemont Municipal Fiber Network
Selectboard Status Report
March 7, 2021
Summary
Network construction is underway and the essential work in the village center has been completed to alleviate conflicts with the DOT traffic calming project, which will be resuming soon. The subscription website is operational and we are encouraging all residents to sign up so that WhipCityFiber can plan the installation schedule for the summer. There will be a virtual information session on March 16. Sign-ups are currently at 20%, mostly through word-of-mouth. The project remains on budget. WhipCityFiber is recommending a “safe” schedule with FSA01 (the first fiber service area) lighting up in July and the other FSAs following at two-month intervals. The town is working with WGE and TriWire to try to accelerate this schedule if possible. Currently, the lack of fiber splicing and testing crews seems to be the bottleneck.
TriWire’s been working on the railroad, all the live long day on Friday. Conduit is now in place over the tracks at the Long Bridge railroad crossing and the Tower Rd. railroad crossing! Completing these public way crossings is a project milestone worth celebrating.
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Danek Excavating and Burke Electric have completed the path preparation make-ready on Warner Hill Road! Underground conduit and two utility poles have been installed on a section of the road to allow the municipal fiber network to bypass a difficult to maintain section of aerial utilities that provides electrical and phone service to residents through the town of Heath.
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Finishing roughly seven weeks ahead of schedule, Verizon has now licensed the use of the utility poles on all seventeen applications to Charlemont’s municipal network! This completion accelerates the next steps in the process: the inspection and remediation of the make-ready work and the relocation of the state’s MBI 1-2-3 middle-mile network fiber.
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Niles Tree Service has completed the tree trimming needed to wrap up the make-ready path preparation on the west end of Tower Rd! Working with our partners, Westfield Gas & Electric, Charlemont has set new utility poles to provide a fiber path that avoids a costly railroad crossing.
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Charlemont Municipal Fiber Network
Select Board Status Report
November 1, 2020
Summary
Verizon has now approved 14 licenses (out of 17), with just a few poles left on the other applications. This remains the main schedule driver. We will start the construction of the distribution network as soon as possible; our conservative estimate is April 1, 2021. We have completed all path preparation projects except Warner Hill Road, which should be complete in November. Construction of the network equipment room is complete; electronics could start being installed later this year. The project remains on budget. The first tranche of town borrowing for $500,000 is expected to close on November 10, 2020.
Verizon make-ready continues to move forward with thirteen of seventeen applications returned as complete! The Charlemont Broadband Committee and the Charlemont Highway Department are working to remove identified barriers to completion in the remaining application areas.
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