States Improving 'Dig Once' Compliance for Broadband Deployments, GAO Says
States are making progress on meeting Transportation Department requirements that they facilitate "dig once" approaches to broadband deployment, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday. Among the 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., it said 46 reported that their transportation…
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department had identified a broadband utility coordinator, and more than half had a process for notifying ISPs of a state transportation improvement project that could facilitate broadband deployment at the same time as the roadwork. GAO said 46 of 52 survey respondents also reported broad coordination with federal, state or local agencies to help with broadband infrastructure deployment in highway rights-of-way. The dig-once requirements were issued in 2021 by DOT's Federal Highway Administration for state transportation departments receiving federal highway program funding.