Pilot program will bring high-speed internet to Duluth's Lincoln Park neighborhood — then maybe beyond

DULUTH — The city of Duluth will connect up to 1,900 residents and businesses in the Lincoln Park neighborhood with high-speed internet access over the next two years as part of its Duluth Fiber Lincoln Park pilot project.

But first, it's asking residents to sign a questionnaire so they can determine interest in the project that could potentially expand to the entire city.

"In my State of the City address, I was very pointed and specific in the idea and ideal of broadband being something every single resident of this community needs, deserves, and should expect," Mayor Emily Larson said Tuesday afternoon from Pocket Park, a small urban gathering space on a corner in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Just 6% of the city has access to high-speed fiber internet, Larson said. No one, she said, should have to sit outside of a fast-food restaurant to gain access to its internet.

Fiber internet requires infrastructure of fiber optic cables that transmit pulses of light. Construction on the budgeted $5.5 million pilot project is expected to begin in 2023 with customers able to use the high-speed internet by the end of the year.

Emily Nygren, an economic developer for the city, said $1 million from the American Rescue Plan has been set aside for the project and that the rest of the money will come from different to-be-determined revenue streams.

Larson said she expects the addition of a city-owned fiber optic infrastructure to increase competition among private internet providers, which in turn will lower monthly internet charges for customers and allow low-income residents to use federal internet assistance programs to help pay for it.

Last year, the city surveyed 1,700 residents and found that the overwhelming majority said the cost of internet was unaffordable, and 97% surveyed said they would support city-sponsored broadband. The average internet speed for residents falls into underserved category, according to speed test data solicited by the city.

"We are moving on this issue, and we are moving on this topic because it is critically important," Larson said.