Indiana Gov. Mike Pence recently called for greater regional cooperation and increased private investment in economic development and in Marshall County, a vote by city officials to support an extension of St. Joe Valley Metronet to bring high speed broadband was largely favored.

Marshall County Commissioner Kevin Overmyer told the Marshall County Council earlier this month that in approving the Metronet extension, it serves as a model for how such cooperation can work. The council voted 5-1 in favor of a motion supporting the extension of broadband service from St. Joseph County into Marshall County and the city of Plymouth.

Metronet’s dark fiber optic network extends more than 100 miles and serves more than 150 subscribers in South Bend, Mishawaka and St. Joseph County. The Marshall County/Plymouth extension will add 33 miles of underground conduit to carry fiber optic cable from the existing network near Ireland Road on the south side of South Bend. The extension will follow along the current U.S. 31 corridor into Marshall County, then along Michigan Road into and around Plymouth. Installation of conduit will begin with the start of the construction season in the spring. Work is to be completed in the fall of 2014.

Completion of the extension is expected to cost more than $3 million. Metronet will pay more than $900,000 to install the fiber optic cable. The city of Plymouth earlier this year committed $1.3 million to pay for conduit that will extend through the city and reach key business and industrial areas, including the city’s tech park. St. Joseph County appropriated $250,000 to help pay for the conduit extension in that county. The Marshall County council’s resolution that passed Tuesday will be followed with an appropriation of $500,000 to be approved when the council meets in January.

Source: Metronet