Left out of the state’s initial broadband plans, county leaders join to make a new agency and get a voice.

Gov. Gavin Newsom sparked excitement locally last July when he signed SB 156, securing a historic $6 billion investment in high-speed, broadband internet access. The money, anchored by federal pandemic relief, would finance infrastructure to connect underserved Californians – many in rural areas – and help make internet service affordable.

Similar to interstate highways, there is a backbone network of high-speed, long distance transmission lines that connects data hubs across the country. Branching out from those transmission lines are “middle-mile” networks – think state highways – which can travel dozens or hundreds of miles to connect surrounding regions. The final piece is the “last mile” network, like local routes and roads, that provide internet network access to local communities.

About $3.3 billion of the broadband fund is tagged to finance “middle-mile” broadband projects, a priority need for southern Monterey County, as the middle-mile broadband infrastructure ends in Soledad. The pandemic’s pivot to a digital world of work and education spotlighted the Salinas Valley’s internet issues, and required creative short-term fixes, such as hotspots, to keep residents connected. Installing middle-mile fiber optic cables to connect rural areas is cost prohibitive for local governments and doesn’t pencil out for telecommunication companies. But where middle-mile infrastructure exists, those companies are more willing to invest in less expensive “last-mile” rural networks.

In November, the California Public Utilities Commission and the state’s Department of Technology agreed on 18 initial middle-mile projects. None are in Monterey County. The omission has galvanized a group of local leaders, led by District 3 Supervisor Chris Lopez and includes city managers and elected officials from Salinas, Gonzales, Soledad, Greenfield and King City to form a joint powers authority (JPA) and get serious about lobbying the state before the next round of broadband projects are announced.

“We want to eventually build broadband infrastructure between Soledad and San Luis Obispo,” Lopez says.

The county is working to formalize the Salinas Valley Five Cities JPA by March 22. Rene Mendez, city manager for Gonzales, says the group is looking to work with Hartnell College and the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership in their lobbying efforts as well. He wants the city councils to approve the JPA by April and start calling meetings by May. He believes broadband access is not only a critical element of education in the future, but of economic development as well. With high-speed internet, he says the Salinas Valley could become a hub for the agriculture technology industry and bring higher paying jobs to the region.

In a Nov. 16 letter to the CDT, the CPUC said the second round of middle-mile broadband projects will “focus on unserved areas that can be built expeditiously… in coordination with Caltrans.” A map released by the CPUC designates Highway 101 in the Salinas Valley among the state routes proposed for a middle-mile network.