Groundbreaking Held for Big Broadband Project in Champaign-Urbana

Construction is officially underway on the fiberoptic broadband network that will reach more than 25-hundred underserved households in about 15 months.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday afternoon in Champaign's Douglass Park to launch construction of the UC2B project. About 200 were on hand, including many of the legislators and local officials that sought funding for the nearly $30-million project. The Douglass Park area is one of the neighborhoods benefitting.

The University of Illinois' Mike Smeltzer says the public will slowly start seeing some progress. He says one crew will be working in Urbana, while the Champaign contractor starts up two weeks from now.

"They're going to start with two crews, then they're going to wrap it up to four, then to six, just to get everything flowing in a nice way instead of just descending on the community all at one time," said Smeltzer. "So there will be a slow ramp up, but by the time everything is said and done, there will be somewhere between 10 and 15 crews working simultaneously in different areas of the community."

University of Illinois Interim Chancellor Robert Easter says community anchor institutions will be part of the network as well.

"It's an opportunity to provide our schools, our libraries, our fire stations, our infrastructure, and parts of our campus with access to the broadband that would not exist, were this not to come to pass," he said. "As I think about what it is, I also think about the aspirations that we have as university for our community."

Urbana alderman Brandon Bowersox notes the project will not only address homes and businesses, but a wide range of social service agencies, like the Boys and Girls Club. Lori Sorensem with the Illinois Century Network says the project will provide jobs for both the short term and long term. Champaign City Council member Will Kyles says he's enthused about minority hiring, including opportunities for canvassing, in which employees will knock on doors and explain what UC2B is.

UC2B will be on line no later than February 2013.