Committee reviews fiber expansion plan to add redundancy for public safety and connect remaining city facilities

IT staff briefed the committee on a multi-year fiber expansion program designed to provide direct fiber connections to every city facility, add redundant paths for public-safety and utility locations, and place several existing overhead links underground to reduce outage risk.

The year’s request focuses on three segments: a new connection loop serving the new Fire Station 6 (Hargrove/Loop) and routing along James L. Harrison to McFarland; moving existing pole-mounted connections underground between Almond Avenue and the River Market; and taking a connection from the West Precinct to Fire Station 8. Staff said in-house crews do splicing and connectivity work while contractors are used for underground boring, which reduces overall cost.

Committee members asked about capacity and school connectivity. IT staff said the network carries Internet and internal networking for city facilities and public-safety radio systems, supports 911 operator connections, and that many city schools piggyback on the city ring; remaining facility connections (including Fire Station 10 and another station) are expected to finish within the year. Staff also described partnerships with the university, ALDOT and the county that provide mutually beneficial connectivity in some corridors.

No construction contracts were authorized; staff said design work will be brought back to the committee and that using the city’s mix of contracted boring and in-house labor yields cost efficiencies.