WASHTENAW CO., Mich. (WXYZ) — Some people may take high speed internet for granted, but in rural areas like here in Washtenaw County, that access was a problem, and now the county is on track to change that.
“We are over 99% complete with Washtenaw County we are close to that in at least three other counties throughout the state," said Chris Scharrer, project manager for Washtenaw County and the owner of DCS technology design.
Washtenaw County is leading the charge for more accessible high-speed internet.
“It’s no longer a luxury," Chris said. "It’s not just a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity. It should be a utility.”
“I’m a long time realtor so it’s really important to have correct data for my clients… and timely! You have to have it in a timely fashion," Marian said.
And we have the COVID-19 Pandemic to thank for that.
“Kids were getting sent home to go to school from home, people were being sent home to work from home," Chris said.
“My brother lived right down the road and with 4 kids going through college and high school and all that, so yes. It got to be a necessity just to keep up with the world," Kevin said.
And while many people living in more rural places in America were struggling for internet connection...
“Go to the McDonald's parking lots," Chris said. "McDonald's has WiFi at a lot of locations but it was very clumsy and burdensome for people.”
Washtenaw County was already working towards their goal of 100% high-speed internet coverage.
“We found more than 8,000 homes, just within 15 townships, actually, that were not serviceable (or) did not have access to any kind of decent broadband services," Chris said.
He tells me $14.6 million from the American rescue plan went into funding the installation of broadband in Washtenaw County. The rest of the funding, coming from the rural digital opportunities fund, or R-DOF.
“We went out and we started mapping out the entire county by looking at every single individual home," Chris said.
Now, the county is over 99% of the way finished to meet their goal of coverage to those 8-thousand homes originally identified.
“It may never be completely finished- I mean there’s new homes being built, new developments going on but we have a goal with the R-DOF plan to have everything that was within our 8,000 home plan done by the end of 2025," Chris said.
And now, the rest of the state is turning to take notes from the example set by Washtenaw County.
“The rest of the state started to recognize that we were doing something about it and so our work started to go into other counties," Chris said.
"We’re reaching a farther audience and all that so yes, it has helped us grow that aspect there," Kevin said.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am!” Marian said.
The city is expecting to have this project complete by the end of the year.
