Zayo recently announced the company is constructing 2,300 miles of new fiber, enabling Tampa and Orlando with dense metro routes and extensive backhaul capability. According to Steve Orlando, SVP, Zayo Networks Central Region, the project is relying on a local team supported by engineering and construction firms in the community.
“The project is solidly on track,” Orlando said, “we’ve had great cooperation from local jurisdictions, partners and the entire team looks forward to our continued progress.
A large project like this is complex, with significant up front work in architecture and engineering design and permitting.”
Orlando said the process involves field inspection, walking the site, comprehensive network diligence and CAD design. Approvals and permitting are required by multiple agencies. In some cases, his team meets personally with a jurisdiction so they can explain their request, discuss their experience and the processes they follow to operate in the right-of-ways, avoid other utilities and minimize disruption.
“Once we have design finalized and the appropriate permits for a specific area,” Orlando said, “it’s ‘shovels in the ground’ to kick off construction. Or more accurately, it’s machines operated by the local firms that we hire, which can precisely construct and place conduit and fiber.”
As they move forward, Orlando said, the teams will work on multiple fronts, finalizing the architecture and engineering design process, securing the remaining permits and building multiple segments simultaneously. He expects the initial phase will be completed as early as the first quarter of 2020, with the entire network finished sometime in early 2021.
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