Internet Explorer 11 is not supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Smoothing the Way to Lay Cable Lines

Tooth-rattling bumps, zigzag detours: These are what city drivers experience when roads are ripped up by telecommunications companies laying fiber-optic cable.

Tooth-rattling bumps, zigzag detours: These are what city drivers experience when roads are ripped up by telecommunications companies laying fiber-optic cable.

But not in Bloomington, Indiana. At least not for much longer: The city is easing the pain of constant digging up and patching of streets by proactively placing conduits in the ground when it does street and sidewalk projects. With conduits in place, "someone can come through and put in fiber without cutting again," says Michael Chui, Bloomington's chief information officer.

Telecommunications companies can blow fiber through those pipes by gaining access to them from small manholes placed roughly every 1,000 feet on sidewalks, grassy areas or streets. The city typically installs several ducts alongside one another so that competing companies can come along and blow fiber through each one.

The conduit project is still in its infancy. There is now a little over a mile of conduit in the ground. At the same time, telecommunications companies still are cutting up streets because the city isn't forcing them to wait until its conduit projects are completed.

During the next 18 months, Bloomington plans to install at least 21/2 miles of conduits as part of planned road and sidewalk construction and another 6 miles around the center city, an economically vital area.

In addition, the city is using the conduits as an economic development tool. For instance, they are being laid to a brownfield area that was home to what was once the largest television factory in the world, a site the city is trying to redevelop.

Special Projects