CDT Preliminary Approval TPA Recommendations

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has preliminarily approved construction routes for extended portions of 16 of the initial 18 project locations identified for the Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative (MMBI). 

The initial 18 locations originally announced in November 2021 totaled approximately 880 miles along the state highway system, and were chosen because the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) indicated the routes, when completed, could provide the core elements of middle-mile infrastructure in these unserved and underserved areas. The locations comprise a variety of geographic, socioeconomic, and service and technical challenges. 

CDT’s third-party administrator, GoldenStateNet, presented CDT a package of route designs in February 2022 that expanded on the initial 18 segments CDT identified in November. Following thorough analysis, CDT has initially approved approximately 1,400 miles of the 2,200 mile proposal. These segments are recommended for construction along the Caltrans state highway rights-of-way. The remainder of the routes are being considered as part of the overall system design. 

After completing pre-construction work, Caltrans will put the approved project segments out to bid. Based on bid results, further analysis will be done to inform the approach toward the entire MMBI Network, in the context of overall cost. CDT expects the full statewide system design recommendation from GoldenStateNet by the end of March 2022.

CDT has preliminarily approved the following miles of fiber optic cable that comprise new Caltrans preconstruction on the state highway system:

LocationsApproved
1 – Siskiyou area 47.9 miles of fiber construction
2 – Plumas area132.3 miles of fiber construction
3 – Lake area107.8 miles of fiber construction
4 – Colusa area 23.1 miles of fiber construction
5 – Alpine area 176.9 miles of fiber construction 
6 – Amador area42.0 miles of fiber construction
7 – Calaveras area11.0 miles of fiber construction
8 – Oakland area 24.1 miles of fiber construction
9 – Central Coast 48.4 miles of fiber construction
10 – West Fresno 83.2 miles of fiber construction
11 – Inyo Area214.4 miles of fiber construction 
12 – Kern area 97.3 miles of fiber construction
13 – San Luis Obispo132.9 miles of fiber construction
14 – San Bernardino 47.6 miles of fiber construction
17 – Coachella Valley 20.5 miles of fiber construction
18 – Riverside / San Diego area227.8 miles of fiber construction
Total: 1,437.2 miles of fiber construction


CDT Letter

TPA Overview Packages