BRINNON — Officials are working on several projects in the hope of increasing internet access and speeds in Brinnon and other areas in the southern parts of Jefferson County and northern areas of Mason County.
Officials from Jefferson County Public Utility District (PUD), Mason County PUD 1, Hood Canal Communications and the state Broadband Office spoke at a meeting hosted by the West Canal Community Broadband Project on Wednesday night.
About 30 Brinnon-area residents attended to listen as providers discussed plans that are in motion and plans that are being developed — all dependent on potential grant funding.
Jefferson County PUD is working to have a fiber optic internet connection added to the Duckabush substation by the end of October, said General Manager Kevin Streett.
Once the connection is made, Jefferson PUD officials will work to develop plans in partnerships with teams from Mason PUDs 1 and 3, Hood Canal Communications and North Olympic Data Center to expand connections for residents, said Will O’Donnell, Jefferson County PUD communications manager, in a phone interview Thursday.
The project builds off the PUD’s recent lease of optical fiber owned by the Bonneville Power Administration, which runs fiber from Olympia to Port Angeles, Streett said.
The BPA fiber boosts the PUD’s network capacity and provides it with a secure second pathway off the North Olympic Peninsula, as currently the only fiber pathways into and out of East Jefferson County run across the Hood Canal Bridge, Streett said.
Most of the Jefferson PUD’s present efforts are focused on expanding its fiber optic network to Discovery Bay and Quilcene — its most underserved areas.
The state Broadband Office accepted the project and submitted the application to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Broadband Infrastructure Funding Program last week, O’Donnell said.
Officials hope to hear about the decision for the grant funding by the end of December, O’Donnell said.
The total project would build more than 160 miles of optical fiber to connect more than 1,600 homes and businesses in Quilcene, Discovery Bay, Gardiner and part of Chimacum, Streett said.
“We have some pretty ambitious plans,” Streett said. “It’s going to take a lot of work.”
Mason PUDs 1 and 3 and Hood Canal Communications are working together to build fiber north from the Jefferson County/Mason County line up to Mount Walker in Brinnon, stopping at the mountain.
The project was accepted by the state and the application submitted to the Infrastructure Funding Program last week, similar to the Jefferson PUD’s project, said Mark Oblizalo, general manager of Hood Canal Communications.
The officials will find out about the grant funding in fall, and if the project is passed over, a second round of funding applications will open up later in the year, Oblizalo said, adding that the chances of the funding being awarded for the project increase if they have to reapply.
If the project is funded, it will allow Hood Canal Communications to connect residences along that line to fiber, but the timeline for installing the line is variable, due to material shortages for telecommunications materials, Oblizalo said.
Oblizalo said he’s excited about the possibility of expanding internet access in South Jefferson County.
“We serve the rural areas,” he said. “We’ve been trying to build out to Brinnon over the last couple of years because we realized they’re truly one of the unserved areas.
“We’re really just trying to close this digital divide and serve these communities that are lacking broadband. We really want to serve these customers in the Brinnon and surrounding areas.”
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
