Fort Bragg OKs $7M loan to close broadband gap, bring high-speed internet citywide

Last week, construction crews started digging up the streets in Fort Bragg to install fiber for broadband, which will make high-speed internet available to every address in the city limits. This week, at the regular City Council meeting, councilmembers closed the gap in funding the ambitious project, authorizing a $7 million 20-year loan from EverBank.

Economic development manager Sarah McCormick noted that the goal is to complete 100 feet of horizontal drilling per day, which immediately met a bad end when a water main was broken and some customers lost water. That glitch was rapidly repaired, people got their water back, and now the project, called the Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative, funded both by the loan and a $10 million grant from the state of California, will go forward.