12/03/13 Preliminary engineering and a cost estimate for the county portion of the Metronet project was presented to the Marshall County Commissioners during their meeting Monday. A copy of the full report was submitted to the Marshall County Auditor for public perusal.
Brent Martin of B.A. Martin Architects one of those working on the project presented estimates on the portion of the project that Marshall County will pick up the bill for.
Part one of the project is the conduit that will extend from Union Station in South Bend through the northern part of Marshall County to Plymouth. The second part is bringing the fiber to the city of Plymouth. The third is the installation of the fiber itself into that conduit which will be undertaken by private partners in the endeavor Hoosier Tire, St. Joseph Regional Medical Center and the St. Joe Valley Metronet.
The conduit installed will have three chambers. One chamber will bring Metronet dark fiber to the county, the other two chambers would be available for lease for any sort of suitable infrastructure.
The County portion of the project which is to bring the conduit infrastructure through southern St. Joe County to the northern edge of Plymouth at Hoham Drive has a price tag of $1.15 million. President of the Commissioners, Kevin Overmyer told the board that $250,000 has been pledged by St. Joe County for the portion of the work that extends in their county.
The Commissioners voted to ask for $500,000 in funding from the Marshall County Council for the project which would leave approximately $400,000 for the project to proceed. Overmyer told the board that should the Council agree to the Marshall County share of the project a private donor had approached him about funding the remaining $400,000.
Hoosier Racing Tire and St. Joseph Regional Medical Center have each pledged $325,000 to the installation of the actual fiber along with St. Joe Valley Metronet pledging $270,000 to that portion of the project.
Provided by Rusty Nixon
