County updates broadband network plan; design finds reusable conduit, project budget remains at $35 million with contingency concerns

Los Alamos County staff and contractor Bonfire updated the County Council on May 20 on the community broadband network (CBN) project, reporting that the high-level design is complete, an updated cost estimate remains within the previously adopted $35 million CIP budget, and a large amount of unused conduit in neighborhoods affected by the Cerro Grande fire appears reusable.

Why this matters: the county’s broadband project intends to build a county-owned fiber network and retail service, improving resilience and providing a publicly operated Internet option. The project also ties to planned bond financing; the county is targeting an October 2025 bond sale to preserve tax-exempt financing advantages.

What staff reported - Design progress: Bonfire delivered the high-level design (HLD) and a revised cost estimate. The vendor is awaiting county review before starting low-level design (LLD). Staff estimated low-level design will come to council for approval in March–April 2026, with construction to follow.

- Cost and budget: The engineering estimate submitted by the vendor shows a total of roughly $29.3 million for build items plus an allowance and contingency that supports the council-approved $35 million CIP budget. County staff said the contingency will be used to address construction unknowns.

- Reuse of conduit: Bonfire carried out a proofing exercise in burn-area neighborhoods and reported approximately 90% of previously installed empty conduit remains intact and can be reused — an immediate cost savings to the project.

- Primary risk: rock and subsurface conditions. Staff and the vendor repeatedly said the single largest risk is encountering rock during bores and directional drilling; that condition would increase per‑foot costs and consume contingency. Microtrenching and aerial attachments are part of the plan to reduce risk where possible.

- Resilience: The proposed network architecture includes three central office (CO) nodes and resilient fiber routes between them, plus a plan for a second Internet feed on a separate path to Albuquerque to avoid single points of failure.

- Phasing and pole use: Staff noted a strategy to build out from the central nodes outward and to maximize use of existing utility poles where feasible; about 1,300 pole attachments are anticipated for the aerial portions, pending Department of Public Utilities approvals.

- Middle-mile benefit: County and San Ildefonso Pueblo coordination on the 11-mile “bridal mile” middle-mile conduit remains in progress; sections have been installed in coordination with other utility projects, adding resiliency.

Council discussion and next steps: Council members asked detailed questions about redundancy, the depth of conduit, microtrenching versus boring, contingency sizing, and whether aerial construction increases vulnerability in high‑wind or wildfire events. Staff said aerial lines remain more economical and that the selected combination (aerial where possible, microtrench and standard trenching where necessary) is intended to control cost while managing risk. Staff also flagged that if congressional or tax rule changes removed municipal tax-exempt status after January 2026, issuing bonds later could increase total interest cost (staff estimated a potential $3 million impact to the $35 million issuance if tax-exempt status were lost).

What remains unresolved - Low-level design approval and final routing decisions (expected for council review in early 2026). - Exact split of aerial vs. underground construction pending Department of Public Utilities pole-use approvals and low-level design details. - How much of the contingency will be required if rock is encountered at scale; staff said they modeled scenarios and that encountering substantial rock could consume most contingency funds.

Quotes from the record - "Ninety percent of the existing conduit proved intact," Bonfire staff reported after the field proofing exercise. - County staff: "As we move from high level to low level design, we do remove some of the risk, but we never eliminate the risk of what's under the ground when you put that bit in."

What to watch: county staff expect to present LLD segments for early approval if council wishes to proceed with the October 2025 bond timeline. The county will also continue coordination with San Ildefonso Pueblo on the middle-mile work.