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AEP reports 148 of 179 county miles complete as backbone testing continues
Summary
Appalachian Electric Power told the Patrick County Board May 26 that 314 regional miles are finished and 148 of an estimated 179 county miles are built; AEP emphasized it is constructing backbone infrastructure and will hand tested segments to River Street Networks for retail service activation.
Appalachian Electric Power updated the Patrick County Board of Supervisors on May 26 about the regional backbone for the county's fiber project, saying "314 miles of the overall fiber build-out have been completed." The company reported that Patrick County has 148 of a projected 179 miles built, leaving 31 miles remaining, and described route-by-route schedules and testing protocols.
Robb Mann of AEP walked the board through route-level milestones: Dobyns is nearly complete; Elamsville has 12.2 miles finished with two crews active and a roughly two-month completion estimate; Pole Bridge has just 2 of 17 required miles constructed and an estimated four to six months of work remaining; Meadows of Dan has not yet started and was estimated to require about six months. Mann also said AEP identified 243 poles in Patrick County for replacement and that sectional testing must conclude before River Street Networks assumes service responsibility for any route.
Board members pressed for local details about Woolwine and other small communities. Mann said the Stuart-Floyd route serving Woolwine is structurally complete, that generator equipment deliveries are in progress for certain POP sites, and that AEP will provide the board with specific Woolwine routing data for verification. He reiterated that AEP is building the backbone and is not the retail ISP; River Street or other providers will determine customer hookups and timelines after AEP completes testing and turns routes over.
The update clarified technical handoff steps and short-term expectations: AEP is testing the network by sections rather than waiting for a single all-route test, and completed routes such as Stella and Stuart-Floyd are expected to be handed to River Street Networks within one to two months for retail integration and local splicing work.
