RITZVILLE — An expanded fiber optic network is coming to Adams County with the help of a $10.3 million grant from the Washington Department of Commerce.

Adams County Commissioner Dan Blankenship said fiber will be installed in Ritzville, Lind, and rural areas south and west of Othello, what he called a fairly sizable area.

“We are going to do fiber optic cable in that service area,” Blankenship said.

Total project cost is about $11 million. Adams County will contribute 10% of the cost, about $1 million. The county does have the money for its share, he said.

The tentative plan, Blankenship said, is to have the buildout completed by the end of 2024. The construction schedule is still to be determined. Blankenship said he is optimistic that the project can finish on schedule if the construction materials are available.

The WDOC distributed $145 million in grants statewide. The grant awards were announced in January.

According to Ann Campbell, the infrastructure manager for the Washington State Broadband Office, Adams County – with its 23,000 people scattered across a small handful of communities – had one of the highest ranking applications for assistance.

Blankenship said the original application included extending the fiber network to Washtucna, but that’s being paid for through an alternate funding source. Whether the Washtucna portion of the grant will be switched to a different area of the county, or the county’s portion of the project match will be changed, hasn’t been determined.

“That’s been the subject of several emails back and forth,” Blankenship said.

Campbell said the grant funding will be used to ensure “last mile” connections to Lind, Ritzville and some unincorporated residential areas west and south of Othello.

“And that’s broadband speed for every property in Lind, Ritzville and around Othello,” she said.

Legislation passed in 2019 requires that all residents and businesses have access to broadband-speed internet for uploads and downloads of 150 Mbps – megabits, or million bits of data, per second – by 2028.

“And this is an investment that will go a long way towards helping out,” Campbell said. “These are amazing small towns, but they don’t have the population density to necessarily attract a diverse group of internet providers.”

The county will not set up in business as an internet service provider, Blankenship said. That will be left up to private companies.

“We see it as a huge economic development tool,” Blankenship said.

With better broadband connectivity Adams County becomes more attractive to businesses, he said. When the project is complete it will be one more thing available to residents and businesses that wasn’t accessible previously, Blankenship added.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected]. Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at [email protected].