Broadband expansion is accelerating across the United States, but many electric cooperatives and utilities face an unexpected challenge: engineering capacity. Lean engineering departments are being asked to manage a growing number of attachment requests, make-ready applications, and pole loading analyses while continuing to support day-to-day system reliability. With limited staff and increasing demand, utilities are discovering that the biggest obstacle to broadband deployme

ADB collaborated with the Fiber Broadband Association to present a session named “Middle-Mile & Long-Haul Fiber Reality Check: What It Actually Takes to Deliver on These Projects.” The session featured two of our own leaders, Mike Binder and Kevin Durham, who shared insights from the field about what it truly takes to plan and deliver large-scale fiber corridor builds. Rather than focusing on theory, the conversation centered on real experiences from projects happening acros