LENOWISCO’s newly-announced investment in broadband expansion adds to other transformative high-speed internet projects currently happening throughout Southwest Virginia, including here in Dickenson County.
Counties served by the Cumberland Plateau Planning District Commission, including Dickenson, Buchanan, Russell and Tazewell, are benefitting from a $68.3 million investment in new broadband infrastructure, including approximately $49.4 million in grant funding secured by
CPPDC through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) to extend high-speed broadband to homes that are currently unserved or underserved. Those funds, matched by approximately $17.5 million from Point Broadband and $1.4 million from CPPDC, support two concurrent projects that will deliver high-speed broadband service to a total of nearly 15,000 homes in the four-county area, including Dickenson County.
Since those projects were launched in late 2021, several Dickenson County communities have received high-speed broadband, including previously unserved neighborhoods in the Baker Ridge, Rose Ridge, and Breaks areas, as well as sections of State Route 83. Active build-out areas in Dickenson County include sections of Fremont, Clinchco, Caney Ridge and routes 637 and 649. Other communities are currently in the field engineering phase, or are awaiting permit approvals for construction to begin, including the Nora community. All told, it is anticipated the concurrent VATI projects will deliver high-speed broadband to more than 5,000 customers in Dickenson County. In addition, another 1,425 connections will be built by Point Broadband through the Connect America Fund (CAF) program, for a total of approximately 6,500 connections in Dickenson County (the vast majority of which benefit unserved and underserved residents).
Build-outs for both projects remain on schedule to conclude in late 2024. At that time, the planning district’s four counties are expected to reach 90-95 percent total broadband coverage (including all surrounding internet service providers). While “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Dickenson County, through its partnership with CPPDC, is proud of the work being done to achieve these transformative goals and all partners involved are committed to eventually seeing 100 percent of county residents served by high-speed broadband.
We are happy to celebrate this announcement for Lenowisco and look forward to continued success with the on-going project here in Dickenson County!