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Caroline County broadband projects update: Verizon complete in west; Breezeline progressing in east, pole make‑ready a cost pressure
Summary
County broadband manager reported the Verizon Caroline West project is complete and serviceable; the larger Breezeline Caroline East project is about 50% through construction with 53 miles of fiber built and 107 locations active. Pole attachment and make‑ready costs are above national averages and remain a key schedule and cost risk.
County broadband staff on March 11 reported milestone progress on two state‑funded broadband builds and flagged make‑ready pole work and CSX crossings as the major remaining risks on the larger eastern project.
Mark Sadler, the county’s broadband lead, said the Caroline West Verizon project — the smaller of the two grant builds — is complete and “the project is now complete, just pending the final reports to the state.” He said Verizon opened service to all 815 addresses in that project area and installations exceed industry standards in spot checks.
The much larger Caroline East project, being built by Breezeline under a VADi grant, remains under active construction. Sadler reported 53 miles of fiber have been placed so far and 107 of an eventual 3,910 service locations are currently available; the county expects a larger availability jump once overhead splicing and pole‑attachment work progress. Breezeline’s immediate goal is to make the majority of the nearer‑term areas available for service later this year.
Sadler said pole attachments remain the single largest cost and schedule pressure. He told the supervisors Caroline County pole replacement and attachment work is costing substantially more than the national average — staff cited internal project figures near $7,500 average per pole make‑ready (including replacements), roughly three times a commonly cited nationwide average of about $2,500. That higher cost is driven by the age and condition of many local poles and the extent of make‑ready work required by the electric cooperative. CSX railroad crossings and coordination with Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) and Dominion were also listed as possible delay sources; staff said three of four CSX crossings are complete and one remains under review.
Sadler said the Breezeline project remains on schedule for now, with weekly county‑provider coordination and regular updates to the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). He recommended residents use the county broadband portal (an orange “submit question” button on the broadband page) to request project status on specific addresses; the county keeps a detailed address list for each grant.
Supervisors asked about “take rates” (percentage of households subscribing once service is available). Sadler said national take rates typically run ~30%; Verizon’s completed project is seeing better than 50% in the areas already active and the Caroline East project is running roughly 30–35% so far where service is available.
No vote was required; the board thanked county broadband staff and the county’s broadband advisory committee for ongoing outreach.
