By Kyra Senese, Managing Editor
Published: January 27, 2023
During this year’s legislative session, bills introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate seek to standardize the process and associated fees for broadband providers crossing railroads.
Fiber deployments that require crossing railroad rights of way can become bogged down in bureaucratic red tape and onerous fees, according to some states.
The issue has arisen in several states as they build broadband infrastructure, but only a few have looked to resolve disputes with railroads through legislation. It is now on the radar of Virginia lawmakers, as the state looks to its electric cooperatives to connect 200,000 residents who are still without broadband, according to a GCN report.
