The Georgia State Transportation board voted to improve the state’s transportation infrastructure and expand its broadband infrastructure with its selection of Plenary Broadband Infrastructure as the Georgia Department of Transportation’s partner.
PBI will be the operations, maintenance and commercialization partner for the GDOT’s Statewide Broadband project, slated to install 1,400 miles of broadband infrastructure along the state’s interstate highways. When completed, a portion of the broadband infrastructure will be dedicated to GDOT traffic operations while the remaining capacity will be reserved for commercial use to provide faster, more reliable broadband access in 70 Georgia counties.
“Expanding broadband access throughout Georgia is critical to bridging the digital divide, ensuring that rural and underserved communities can access essential online services for education, healthcare, and economic opportunities,” Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell R. McMurry, P.E., said. “This expansion also brings with it the added benefit of modernizing our transportation infrastructure, enabling innovations like connected vehicles and smart traffic systems to improve safety and efficiency.”
Under the agreement approved by the board, PBI will maintain the broadband network infrastructure for GDOT’s traffic operations and will operate, maintain and commercialize the broadband network dedicated to commercial use. PBI will also provide payments to GDOT for revenue generated from the commercial use.
“This is an innovative approach to project delivery and financing that leverages the private sector to meet the state’s transportation and broadband infrastructure needs,” McMurry said.