Howard County Executive Ken Ulman hosted the state kickoff Monday, June 13 for construction of the Inter-County Broadband Network, at the opening of the project's logistics center in Elkridge.
The center, a warehouse in the Route 1 Industrial Park, is where the fiber and other materials needed for the project will be packaged, tracked and sent out for construction.
"This is an example of what can happen when the federal government, state government and local jurisdictions all work together," Ulman said of the statewide broadband project, which is being funded by a $115 million federal stimulus grant and some state and local money.
"We are creating thousands of jobs in the private sector. We are saving millions of tax dollars in the public sector."
Howard County is managing $72 million of the grant to connect the 10 central Maryland jurisdictions with 1,300 miles of fiber, which Ulman said will provide the jurisdictions with a minimum total of $28 million in annual savings.
In Howard alone, there will be 115 miles of fiber-optic cable. Already, crews have laid 3.5 miles of conduit, which is the base material through which the fiber will be pulled.
Ulman was joined by several state and local elected officials, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, state Sen. Jim Robey and County Council members Courtney Watson, Calvin Ball and Mary Kay Sigaty.
"We are going to use broadband to build a new economy and a new future," Mikulski said. During the construction alone, she said, the project is expected to create 1,800 jobs.