Caroline County broadband update: BEAD-funded Verizon, Breezeline projects progressing; some permit delays reported

David Sadler, Caroline County director of information technology and project manager for the county’s broadband projects, gave a February 2025 progress update on BEAD-funded expansion efforts serving unserved addresses in the county.

The update outlined two major projects: a Verizon-led Caroline West deployment and a Breezeline-led Caroline East deployment, both funded through the federal BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) program and administered by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Sadler said the BEAD program "will fund expansion of service to unserved locations." He emphasized that companies apply directly to the Commonwealth to participate and that the county has received three company requests for board recommendations, two already processed and a third scheduled for consideration.

The Caroline West Verizon project is nearing its state contract deadline of April 23, 2025. Sadler reported that recent work opened additional addresses for ordering; in last month’s report 73% of addresses in that project could place orders. He said the project shows 85% of mileage completed on the project scorecard, with about 88% of the project timeline elapsed. State funding for the Verizon project was reported at about $2,000,000, with Verizon and Caroline County covering roughly $5,600,000 in matching funds. "This project remains ahead of schedule and will complete ahead of the 04/23/2025 deadline," Sadler said, while noting routine reporting and financial work are ongoing as the project wraps up.

On the larger Caroline East Breezeline project, Sadler said design is complete and construction is under way. He reported 53 miles of 439 miles of fiber constructed since January 2024 and said 107 addresses have service so far out of 3,910 locations awarded for the project. One of four required CSX railroad crossings is complete; the remaining crossings were delayed by weather but are scheduled when conditions allow. Sadler cautioned that the Breezeline project is "beginning to experience delays" not from the railroad crossings alone but from waiting on overhead utility permits from Rappahannock Electric. He said Rappahannock Electric has added staff and is working with the project, and "at this time, it is still likely that the project will complete on time," though the county is monitoring pole-permitting issues.

Sadler described construction practices residents may see: Breezeline has installed underground conduit (orange plastic tubing) and sometimes fiber ahead of final service work so later connections proceed faster. He told residents who see orange conduit or fiber in front of their homes that this indicates they are in an earlier phase of the project and should expect service when project buildout reaches that conduit. He also addressed frequent questions about Carmel Church, saying fiber is in the ground there and that once the remaining equipment is turned on "you will be able to place your order." He noted some delays configuring equipment (transcribed as "CDON configured") had occurred but that activation was proceeding.

Sadler directed residents with questions to the county website’s broadband page and its inquiry form; submissions go directly to him for response. He said the county has received a high volume of inquiries, and asked residents to be patient while staff answer them. He closed by noting the county’s next scheduled broadband update meeting in March at 7 p.m. (date not specified) and that, if no additional business is required, the update will be posted on YouTube.

The presentation combined status metrics (mileage, percentage of addresses with service, project timeline progress), funding figures provided by the presenter, and operational updates about crossings, permitting, and equipment activation. No motions or formal votes were recorded during the update.