ST. PAUL – During the last public works meeting, County of St. Paul council reviewed a project proposal by Buried Glass Inc. (BGI) to provide permits to build a fiber network from Spedden to St. Lina, and from St. Paul to Lindbergh.
Buried Glass is a division of St. Paul-based company MCSnet.
As a Canadian carrier, Buried Glass needs to build and operate its facilities or structures, including fiber networks within municipal rights-of-ways, in order to run its service. Rights-of-way include highway, lane, and road allowances.
The recently proposed fiber networks will run within County rights-of-ways.
Construction will involve placing 1-32mm pipes called HDPE conduits within highway and municipal rights-of-way. “Once the conduit has been placed the fiber cable will be pulled through the conduit and spliced in the service vaults as required,” reads the County agenda.
The construction will not involve digging up any roads.
“The buried installation will be performed using both plowing and directional boring construction methods. All utilities will be hydrovaced to expose them if crossing is required,” said CAO Sheila Kitz.
According to Rhonda Lafrance, chief marketing officer with MCSNet, the new networks are aimed at enhancing broadband connectivity for MCSnet customers.
For the Spedden to St. Lina portion of the project, the new network will begin at the intersection of Range Road 112 and Township Road 600 and will connect to an existing BGI network within Smoky Lake County, according to the agenda.
It will continue east along Township Road 600 toward Highway 866, turning north toward Highway 866 and the Township Road 614 intersection. Then it will turn east along Township Road 614 to east of Range Road 105, connecting to existing communications tower at NW 20 61-10-4.
Coun. Louis Dechaine motioned to enter into the agreement. The motion passed.
As for the fiber network from St. Paul to Lindbergh, the network will begin at Highway 881 and Township Road 580 intersection south of the Town of St. Paul, which will connect to the existing Buried Glass network.
It will continue along Highway 881 to Township Road 574, turning east toward the Town of Elk Point. The network will travel south of Elk Point, turning east along Highway 646 past Lindbergh, and connect to an existing communications tower within SE 26 56-5-4, along Highway 646.
Coun. Maxine Fodness made the motion to enter into an agreement. The motion also passed.
