STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — The celebration of the new fiber optic trunk line bringing high bandwidth to six community institutions in Steamboat Springs was still underway at Allbright Family Auditorium on the Alpine campus of Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs on Jan. 24 when the news broke that a last-mile provider was on board to deliver on the promise of extending high bandwidth service to a broader customer base.

Evan Biagi of Mammoth Networks, which will manage the new trunk line, announced that USA Communications has already built some lateral lines off the trunk to serve businesses in the downtown area.

"We're so blessed to come in and build the laterals," USA Communications' Tyler Cretacci said.

His company, which began as a traditional cable television provider, has worked on high-bandwidth projects in Colorado communities including Blackhawk, Central City and Pagosa Springs. He emphasized in Steamboat the commercial service would be practical for companies in proximity to the trunk line, so that they can have their own lateral line installed.

The $1.4 million project, once estimated to cost $2.2 million, was a collaboration among Routt County, the city of Steamboat Springs, the Steamboat Springs School District, Yampa Valley Medical Center and Yampa Valley Medical Center working through the nonprofit Northwest Colorado Broadband. County Manager Tom Sullivan is president of NCB.

The Colorado Department of Local Affairs contributed a grant of $748,195 to the broadband project here, and DOLA Executive Director Irv Halter attended the celebration in Steamboat. He observed that as Colorado continues to grow, not all of that growth will be concentrated along the Front Range — many people will move to smaller communities such as Steamboat and have expectations about connectivity, he predicted.

"What we're looking for is projects that make communities whole and help them stick in an era of great growth," Halter said.

The trunk line will run from the Routt County Justice Center on the west side of Steamboat to the U.S. Forest Service offices on the south side of town. Lateral lines off the trunkline serve each institution.

Biagi predicted the strategy Routt County and Steamboat Springs have employed to take control of the broadband future will be emulated by other communities.

“We’re ahead of the curve in terms of the rest of the state,” he said.

School district Information Technology Director Tim Myles said that the availability of high bandwidth at a reasonable cost has already demonstrated that. "School is everywhere," for the district's students.

"The district will save $250,000 a year," Myles said. "That's unfathomable, what it is over a long term."

Yampa Valley Electric CEO Diane Johnson said her utility had studied acquiring high bandwidth on its own, but when the cost estimate came in at $1.2 million, "We said 'no.'"

However, through the NCB partnership, YVEA was able to buy into the trunk line for $350,000. The practical implications include the increased ability to monitor substations remotely, leading to greater reliability. But the sizzle, according to Johnson comes with the breathtaking speed of the network.

"We went from 30 megabits per second to 300, like boom!" she said. 

To reach Tom Ross, call 970-871-4205, email tross@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @ThomasSRoss1.