State grant will upgrade Chicopee’s fiber network infrastructure

CHICOPEE — Chicopee’s fiber infrastructure just got a much-needed boost thanks to some state funding.

The city has been awarded $226,480 through the Community Compact Cabinet’s Municipal Fiber Grant Program to add redundancy to the city’s existing municipal fiber, thereby strengthening the network.

The Healey-Driscoll administration recently announced $10.1 million in grants to Massachusetts municipalities through the program.

These grants will help cities and towns build or complete municipal fiber networks, enabling modern, efficient technology infrastructure and stronger cybersecurity capabilities.

The Municipal Fiber Grant Program helps communities develop local fiber networks and fill gaps in existing municipal fiber networks to support more secure and reliable technology systems.

These networks can improve cybersecurity protections, enable more responsive disaster recovery and make it easier for residents to access local government services online. A shared municipal network can also help communities save money by combining internet service and cybersecurity needs across multiple public facilities, rather than managing them separately.

While Chicopee Electric Light and Crossroads Fiber said they expect to be involved in the planning, construction and ongoing maintenance of the fiber infrastructure associated with the project, the grant itself was awarded to the city of Chicopee and is being led by the Chicopee Police Department.

Acting Chief Eric Watson told Reminder Publishing that the grant and project will help modernize aging municipal infrastructure with a physically diverse fiber entrance to the Chicopee Public Safety Building at 110 Church St.

By establishing a fully redundant, geographically diverse fiber path originating from a separate network direction, the city guarantees continuous operation for its most critical platforms, according to Watson. These systems include computer-aided dispatch, records management, real-time intelligence platforms, camera systems and interagency communication tools that support both internal operations and direct service to the public.
The finished project will protect communications and ensure continuous services, provide system reliability and strengthen overall system protections. According to Watson, the systems are essential to the operation, response and communication between first responders in life-threatening situations.

The infrastructure will also reduce the risk of costly emergency repairs and service outages. According to Watson, a reliable network connectivity directly supports faster response times, improves situational awareness, and creates more effective coordination among police, fire, EMS and regional partners.

Since fiscal year 2022, the Municipal Fiber grant program has provided 221 grants to support 176 municipalities or school district projects, totaling $43.8 million in funding.

“Our Municipal Fiber grants are helping cities and towns across Massachusetts build the modern technology infrastructure they need to better serve residents,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “These investments will help communities strengthen cybersecurity, improve emergency preparedness, modernize local government operations, and make it easier for people to access services online. We’re proud to partner with municipalities across our state to support more efficient, reliable, and secure local government.”