400-Mile Fiber-Optic Network Goes Online in Colorado

A 400-mile fiber network built to provide broadband Internet access to 14 mountain communities across northwest Colorado officially went online the week of April 6. The Northwest Colorado Council of Governments has spearheaded the work, dubbed Project Thor. The loop starts in Denver and runs west, using Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) fiber along Interstate 70 and a combination of fiber services going north through Meeker, Craig, Steamboat Springs and Grand County. The network is designed to provide redundancy for communities that experience regular outages, the council said in a statement. It also fills a need for high-quality, affordable broadband lacking in many rural areas, government officials said.  Project Thor, named after the hammer-wielding Norse god, received a $1 million grant from the state Department of Local Affairs for infrastructure and a $270,000 grant to lease the cable from CDOT for the first three years. Local governments provided matching funds. Work started on the project in 2014.