Having been encouraged to pursue public/private initiatives through the Telecommunication Act of 1996, Colorado Department of Transportation entered into a contract with Adesta Communications (formerly MFS Network Technologies) in March of 1999 to essentially “share” the use of controlled access facility rights-of-way in Colorado. Such facilities include interstate highways and state highways, such as US 36 between Denver and Boulder, in which there are designated entrance and exit ramps. The exchange is based on the premise that C.D.O.T. would give up land to a communications provider, in exchange for fiber optics and communication equipment to be used to create a high speed communications backbone that will be used at C.D.O.T. to support traveler information services. Although the request for proposals (RFP) released in March of 1998 is still open for response by the telecommunication industry, C.D.O.T. currently has only one such contract in place. The network overview map shows areas included in this build.

During the course of this project, Adesta has secured users, engineered a multi-conduit duct system that will carry thousands of strands of single mode fiber optics, and has been installing the system within C.D.O.T.'s right-of-way. This multi-conduit system and fiber optics will be sold or leased to communication service providers, some long-haul and others local, and they will provide a high speed SONET communications backbone throughout Colorado. In exchange, C.D.O.T. will receive up to 24 fibers that will be used to link cameras, VMSs, and other ITS devices that will be used to enhance traveler information and traffic flows. In addition, C.D.O.T. will receive the necessary equipment to “light” the C.D.O.T. fibers and sustain the communications across the network.

The total estimated cost to install this network by Adesta is $180 million. The total estimated value that will be realized by C.D.O.T. is $28 million in gear and communications devices. But the benefits to C.D.O.T. and Colorado do not stop there. As Internet and communication service providers continue to flood the market, connection to this backbone will be the key to much of their success. From this backbone it is anticipated that smaller service providers will branch off and ultimately build an intricate web of high-speed facilities that will service all areas of the state. This backbone may also help to provide high-speed service to every county seat, as required under the Multi-Users Network Taskforce (MNT) project supervised by the Governor’s office. In an effort to bridge the “digital divide”, the MNT project has the goal of providing high-speed communications to every library and K-12 school in the state.

Although C.D.O.T. anticipates additional responses to the open RFP in months to come, this project is the first of its kind in Colorado. Creative and capable people within C.D.O.T. have worked well together to develop a contract that remains uncontested to this day, and it’s being looked upon by other states as a model contract for this type of “partnership”. In the years to come, the Colorado Department of Transportation is excitedly anticipating the flurry of communication activity that will be streaming through the right-of-way that will help improve the quality of life for all travelers and the people of Colorado.