ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – There’s an end in sight for 300 families left on the wrong side of the digital divide in Roanoke County.
On Tuesday, county leaders approved more than $3 million for broadband expansion in their most rural communities.
In Roanoke County, it’s the tale of the broadband have’s and has not’s. Catawba Supervisor Martha Hooker said they’re now able to close that gap.
“It’s just a very rural area that needs this infrastructure in place to do things that many of us just take for granted,” Hooker said.
In Fall 2020, county leaders announced they would use CARES Act funding to subsidize broadband expansion. Cox is contributing more than $750,000 to the project and the county approved the final $500,000 needed to reach even more people.
Bill Hunter is the county’s IT director. He said they’ll connect the homes in areas where residents are either underserved or not served at all.
“We’re reinvesting those into the community to take on four separate areas in the county in conjunction with Cox Communications,” Hunter said.
They’ll connect the homes on Bent Mountain, Bradshaw Road, Cove Hollow Road, and Starlight Lane. They’ve also launched a new website to share more about the project.
“[It shows] what projects we have finished, what projects we currently have going on, and trust me when I say the current projects never happen fast enough,” Hunter said. “So we’re trying to get those going just as fast as we possibly can.”
Customers are set to come online in staggering numbers, with the last folks connected by the end of next year. The county is considering another survey to see who still lacks access, but Hooker said this step alone is a big one.
“It can’t happen quickly enough, but we’re very excited, this is really a great day in continuing that commitment to expanding broadband,” Hooker said.