May 29—RITZVILLE — Construction could start as early as August on a project to bring fiber optic cable to the Ritzville and Lind areas. Adams County Public Works Director Todd O’Brien said fiber installation in the two cities would be the first phase of a two-phase project. The second phase will be the addition of fiber in an area south of Othello.

“Our designer is putting together bid specifications,” O’Brien said. County officials want to advertise for bids in June, with bids opened and the contract awarded in July. If all goes well, construction will start sometime in August.

“That’s kind of the general goal right now,” he said.

O’Brien said crews will be installing fiber within the Rtizville and Lind city limits. Once the fiber backbone is completed, customers will go through a service provider to hook up to the system, he said.

Adams County was awarded a $10.3 million grant from the Washington Broadband Office for both phases.

There’s still some work to be done in the Ritzville-Lind area, O’Brien said, in the form of final approval of some construction permits. The permitting process is still ongoing on Othello, with permits required to work around railroad tracks, state highways and irrigation canals, among other things.

“We’re still working through the permit process on that,’ O’Brien said.

Most of the fiber cable will be aerial, but some places will require underground installation, O’Brien said. The grant includes money to install the underground conduit at no charge to the property owner. But permission is required from property owners first, he said.

If construction begins in the late summer or early fall, the goal would be to finish the project as soon as possible, but that’s subject to fall and early winter weather conditions, he said. That may push the completion of the first phase to spring 2025. County officials hope to be able to start the Othello area phase by spring 2025.

O’Brien said county officials want to apply for a second grant to expand the network into rural areas of Adams County, once the funding becomes available.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.