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Klobuchar, Warner Announce Legislation to "Dig Once" for Broadband Information Superhighway

Legislation will reduce cost of installing broadband and create jobs

June 15, 2009

St. Louis Park, MN – Joined by local officials, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced today that she is introducing legislation with U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) that to promote more rapid, cost-effective expansion of broadband networks that carry high-speed, high-capacity communications.

“Every Minnesotan knows we have only two seasons, winter and road construction,” said Klobuchar.  “Nobody likes the orange cones and detour signs, or the traffic delays that go with them.  It’s even more aggravating when the same road gets torn up again just a year or two later to install underground communication cables.”

Klobuchar said she wants to bring “common sense and efficiency” to the process by requiring federally-funded transportation projects to include the simultaneous installation of underground broadband conduits.  In other words, “dig once.”

The Federal Highway Administration estimates that 90 percent of the cost of deploying broadband is for digging up and repairing the road.  That means it is 10 times more expensive to add broadband after a road is already built than to install it in the first place.  (Broadband conduits are the “pipes” which house tiny fiber-optic cables that carry high-speed, high-capacity communications.)

Klobuchar’s “Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2009” would require states to install broadband conduit as part of any federally-funded transportation project.  This would include projects such as building a new highway or adding a new lane or shoulder to an existing highway.

The legislation allows this requirement to be waived when the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Communications Commission determine that the conduit is not necessary.

“Whether in our cities, suburbs or rural communities, widespread access to the information superhighway is essential to our future prosperity,” said Klobuchar.  “Our businesses, schools, health care institutions and more will all depend on access to high-speed, high-capacity communications.  This infrastructure must be built as quickly and efficiently as possible, and that’s what this legislation aims to do.”

Klobuchar said that broadband service is becoming increasingly important for job creation and economic development. She cited a recent study by the Brookings Institution, which estimates that every one percentage point increase in broadband penetration per year would lead to the creation of nearly 300,000 new jobs.

Klobuchar held her news conference in St. Louis Park, a Twin Cities suburb, because community leaders have been committed to building a strong broadband infrastructure.

Last year, Klobuchar cosponsored the Broadband Data Improvement Act, which was signed into law in October.  The legislation will improve the quality of the data collected by the federal government on broadband services. It also authorizes a grant program for states to create statewide broadband initiatives.

Klobuchar’s legislation is also sponsored by U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

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