Escondido Citywide Fiber Plan Review and Inspection

Challenge: The City of Escondido is situated in northern San Diego County and serves 150,000 residents. The City sought to close the digital divide within the community. Although most of Escondido’s residents have internet access, the City needed to determine who was most impacted locally to bridge the digital gap. After conducting a broadband study, the City decided to undergo a citywide fiber communications network deployment to provide more residents access to internet services.

In late 2022, Escondido City Council approved a Right-of-Way Encroachment Agreement with SiFi Networks, a telecommunications service provider, to allow the installation of the company’s new FiberCity system. Escondido’s goal was to provide full access to the Internet for its residents, incorporate Smart City applications, and leverage online opportunities across education, employment, healthcare, social connection, and community services).

Solution: The City hired HR Green to provide engineering review and construction inspection services (municipal broadband oversight) for an underground fiber optics deployment planned within the city Right-of-Way. A total of 15 work zones are involved. Each work zone consists of 250,000 linear feet of trench and 40 plan sheets. Two major “hut” facilities are included at 30 plan sheets per location. Additionally, 60 cabinets (approximately 10 plan sheets per location), along with 10 traffic control plans per zone are also included.

Engineering plan review services included:

• Providing digital plan review comments on project plans in conformance with review checklist and additional plan review items developed by the review team
• Confirming appropriate plotting of and coordination with utilities
• Confirming adequate profiling and potholing of potential conflicts
• Coordinating with City staff on future planned projects in the area
• Providing comments to enhance the design considering constructability and phasing with the goal of reducing community impacts, including recommended refinements to standards
• Confirming compliance with the Right-of-Way Encroachment Agreement
• Facilitating a post-review meeting with City staff after each review to discuss plan review comments
• Participating in meetings with the provider’s design engineer to resolve comments
• Completing on-site preconstruction meetings with the Contractor performing the work
• Assisting with the review of any design revisions made necessary during construction.

Construction observation services included:

• Full-time on-site inspection for the estimated 670-day construction period
• Assigning a Construction Project Manager to coordinate compliance with approved plans and design standards
• Deploying inspectors to observe the construction of the new fiber system, using micro trenching technology, boring installation, and laying fiber optic lines in trenches along road ducts within the City’s right-of-way
• Providing daily inspection reports and photo documentation
• Observing the implementation of the contractor’s traffic control plan
• Coordinating with agency staff, stakeholders, and other construction efforts with the City
• Maintaining access to businesses and properties within and adjacent to the work zones
• Facilitating contractor meetings
• Verifying the accuracy of contractor invoicing
• Creating and improving construction and design processes and specifications

Benefit: Once fully deployed, the fiber network will future-proof the City for generations to come, bring more choice of providers, provide super-fast connectivity, boost the local economy, and facilitate the use of Smart City applications to make for an even greater community to live, work, and play.