Crystal City (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Drew Hansen
Arlington will make its high-speed fiber network accessible to businesses, federal agencies and other organizations later this year as part of an economic development initiative unanimously approved by the Arlington County Board on Saturday.
Arlington will license access to a 10-mile dark fiber line traversing economic centers — including the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, Glebe Road, Columbia Pike and Crystal City — that it will own and maintain. It will be an extension of an existing fiber network the county uses to connect municipal buildings and operate things like traffic signals.
Licensees will have to make the final connection to their offices and the county believes the standard license agreement “should expedite business access at reasonable rates,” which weren’t defined,according to a release. The only stipulation is that the final connection is located within Arlington.
The expansion is expected to cost Arlington $4.1 million and it will use a variety of federal, state and county funds to pay for the project. Annual operating expenses could run as much as $800,000, though the county expects to recoup those costs from license fees.
