Focus on fiber
From left are Shane Rigsby, Phillip Gilley, Harry Felty, Martin Hillis, Kevin Hillis, Mike Grissom, Jordan Delong, Tommy Brown, Lewis Beaty and Wil Copeland.
Construction Department plays major role in expansion BY LISA SAVAGE
W
hether it involves stringing cable from a pole or burying it in the ground, the Construction Department plays a major role in expanding the fiber optic network at Ben Lomand Connect. “We’re trying to bury as much of the fiber optic cables as we can,” Construction Department Supervisor Tommy Brown says. For years, cooperatives used aerial cables to provide service, but they’re more expensive to maintain, and there is a greater chance of damage. Keeping the right-of-way clear over a span of aerial lines also adds cost, so it’s a goal to bury as much cable as possible since it’s a more reliable method and there is less chance of damage. The terrain in some areas, however, makes that impossible. In a project in the Normandy area, between 90% and 95% of the cable will be buried.
THE CREWS About 22 employees work in the Construction Department, and Brown also oversees eight contracting companies doing some of the construction work in the area. Employees and contractors divide the workload, and the cooperative utilizes each type of crew, according to which jobs make the most sense economically. Fiber is less expensive than copper in the long run, and labor costs are the same. “We’re trying to be more frugal with funds and do the most with what we have,” he says.
Contractors often work on large fiber builds, which are possible because of grants or loans. Those projects usually cover 50 to 130 miles. A focus on larger building projects by Ben Lomand Connect employees includes placing more than 105 miles of fiber throughout the network in the last year. Before construction even begins, there is a call to 811, says long-time employee David Gulick. “We call to give other utilities the opportunity to locate their facilities,” he says. “This also gives us the option of picking alternate routing for cable placement in some situations.”
IMPROVING THE SYSTEM The Construction Department also plays a big role in expanding the current service area footprint in places like Jumpoff in Franklin County, Normandy and Pocahontas in Coffee County and the Sunset Ridge area in Crossville. The more expansion outside the cooperative’s original service area, the larger Ben Lomand’s footprint will become. The quicker the entire service area can be completed and the conversion to a 100% fiber network occurs, the better it is for customers. “It will make our service solid for our customers for years to come,” Brown says. “Ben Lomand Connect has been replacing copper lines with fiber optic connections for more than 10 years. It’s our goal to have a total fiber optic network by 2023.”
Move Over Law
Construction crews, including utility workers, often work in dangerous environments, such as along major highways. The Move Over Law requires motorists to move into an adjacent lane of traffic, when safe to do so, or to slow down. To learn more about Move Over go to the website for the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security. 8 | July/August 2019
Ben Lomand Connect
