Franklin will receive a $1 million federal grant to install a fiber-optic loop around the city.

News came late Wednesday from U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, that the city would receive the grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration. Franklin is part of Whitfield’s 1st Congressional District.

“This is a 50 percent match, so we will have to spend $1 million to get $1 million,” Mayor Jim Brown said. “But we are pretty elated.”

Dennis Griffin, director of the Franklin-Simpson Industrial Authority, commended Brown and others for seeking the grant. “This is a major announcement for Franklin because one of the missing pieces for economic development has been the lack of fiber,” Griffin said.

The presence of fiber-optic lines, which can carry large amounts of data, will open a whole new market in terms of seeking telecommunications businesses and high-tech industries that need fiber reliability, he said.  “We have never been able to recruit (them) heavily before,” Griffin said.

It also is a boon for existing industries that can expand their capabilities.

Whitfield’s office estimates that the new system would be responsible for adding a minimum of 300 jobs to Franklin.

Griffin said he also foresees the possibility of starting a center similar to Western Kentucky University’s Innovation and Commercialization Center. That fiber optic-equipped center helps new companies with research and development.

“We have worked closely with Buddy Steen and the efforts he has done for Bowling Green at the
Western facility, and we hope some day in a small way to duplicate what they have done there,” Griffin said.

Brown said the city’s consultant mostly has the design-bid packages ready to go, once further details are received about the grant.

“We think we can get this thing constructed in about three or four months (after bids are let), from what I’ve been told,” he said. “Of course, everything always takes longer than you think it will.”

The city commission months ago authorized the project for up to $2 million, provided a grant could be obtained. Now Brown thinks they can bring it in under $1.7 million or so.

The savings is coming from being able to connect to a fiber optic trail along the railroad in Franklin.

“Through (Bowling Green Municipal Utilities) and others’ help we were able to find out that we could actually make the connection here,” Brown said. “So we won’t have to connect to Bowling Green.”

Initially Franklin had planned to bring in its fiber optic by connecting to BGMU’s service at the South Industrial Park on Nashville Road. Brown said the city and its consultant will meet Monday to iron out specifics, and there already are a list of business and industry interested in connecting. “The main thing we were looking for is connectivity and having redundancy in case one system fails,” Brown said.

Brown said the system will be strictly for industrial and commercial users.

“We are not trying to do a residential project,” he said.