Caroline County: Caroline West build complete; Caroline East continues amid pole-attachment and railroad crossing work

David Sadler, director of information technology and project manager for VADI 2023 for Caroline County, said Monday that the county’s Caroline West fiber project is complete and that work on the larger Caroline East project continues, with some areas delayed by pole-attachment work and railroad crossings.

Construction on Caroline West “began in January of 2024,” Sadler said. He told the county the project met its milestones and was completed ahead of schedule; service was available to 383 homes in December 2024, rose to 596 in February, and in March 2025 “all 815 addresses in this project are open for sale.” Sadler said the build is “now complete, just pending the final reports to the Department of Housing and Community Development.” He said installations “exceed the industry standards, and speeds are as advertised.”

The Caroline East project, Sadler said, is larger and remains in active construction. He said the project design is finished and that 53 of 439 miles of fiber have been built and 107 of 3,910 locations are built out and available for sale. Construction on Caroline East began in January 2024 and, as of the briefing, the bulk of work is concentrated on the southern half of the project south of the U.S. 207/U.S. 301 corridor.

Sadler said the county notified the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) in January about two areas of possible delay tied to CSX railroad crossings and pole-attachment work with Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) and Dominion. He said three of four required under-railroad crossings for CSX are complete. On electric-pole work, Sadler said Dominion will require attachments to 5,745 poles and that 50% of pole evaluations requested by Breezeline between March and July 2024 have been completed and evaluated by REC. He added that “the amount of make ready work by REC is much higher than the national average, and the costs are above average due to the condition of many of the poles being evaluated.”

Sadler said the county is monitoring these issues closely and has not requested a project extension. “At this point in time, no extension of this project is necessary,” he said, adding that he meets with REC once a week and with Breezeline twice a week to track progress. He said the current expected completion date for Caroline East is October 2026.

For residents checking service availability, Sadler directed users to the county’s broadband page and its inquiry form. “If you need specific information about your location, when is my Internet gonna be available, or am I in the project? Just go to the broadband page of the Caroline County website,” he said. Sadler said the next broadband update is scheduled for Monday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m. on YouTube and that the monthly updates reflect status as of the Friday before each meeting.

No formal votes or decisions were recorded during the update; Sadler presented the status report and invited questions via the county’s inquiry form.