Caroline County advisory committee asks supervisors to pursue options for 75 unserved homes after broadband update

Caroline County’s Broadband Advisory Committee on Oct. 20 voted to ask the Board of Supervisors to authorize the committee to develop and present a proposed solution for roughly 75 homes east of Route 301 that were missed in earlier grant-funded buildouts.

The motion, made during a committee meeting held over Zoom, followed staff updates on completed and ongoing Virginia grant projects and a federal funding program known as BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment). The committee voted by voice and the chair declared, “The ayes have it. Your motion carries.”

Committee staff and members described recent outreach and construction progress under state grant awards the transcript refers to as VADI projects. County staff said two earlier VADI projects added fiber to about 512 and about 815 previously unserved locations, respectively, and a larger Breezeline-backed VADI 2023 East project will require about 439 miles of fiber to reach about 3,910 previously unserved locations if completed as planned. County staff also said their most recent county tally — reported at lunchtime on Oct. 20 — showed service expanded to more than 2,048 previously unserved locations and that number was continuing to grow.

Staff described a public…