Gig City's High-Speed Internet Doesn't Reach All Residents

Chattanooga (TN) offers the fastest Internet connections in America along fiber-optic links stringing out from a revitalized downtown. But urban planners taking part in the Vanguard Next City conference still found physical and economic barriers separating the central city and its Gig technology with nearby neighborhoods, especially the Westside.

The barriers are both physical and economic. To get to nearby businesses and jobs, many of those living in the College Hill Courts public housing project cut through a chained-link fence and walked through a field to cross US Highway 27 and connect with downtown. And many Westside residents can’t afford Chattanooga’s superfast Internet.

But that could change if the city implements the winning suggestions from the Chattanooga Challenge that ended the fifth annual Next City conference. A team of government and civic leaders from across the country suggested that Chattanooga offer free Wi-Fi service to College Hill Courts to bridge the digital divide and develop a new pathway to connect downtown and the neighborhood.