Support for deploying a state-of-the-art broadband fiber optic network across La Salle County is growing at a rapid pace, according to Ottawa's Economic Director Reed Wilson, a major proponent of the project.

Local proponents are now hoping for a significant amount of money from the state previously earmarked from the capital development funds.

Wilson said pledges and in-kind contributions are coming in "on a daily basis" for a "nonfederal match" which he hopes will total more than $6 million necessary to capture many millions more from a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant funded under the American Recovery Act.

The La Salle County Broadband Initiative, comprised of members from the North Central Illinois Council of Governments and city of Ottawa officials, is seeking the $21 million grant from the National Telecommunication and Information Administration from the U.S. Department of Commerce to build a 184-mile broadband network that many believe "is vital to the business and educational future of the entire Illinois Valley."

With the application deadline looming on Friday, March 26, Wilson and others have been out promoting the project and have recently received the backing of such governmental bodies as the La Salle County Board, Illinois Valley Community College and La Salle County Regional Office of Education.

Wilson said many area businesses and local communities such as Peru and Oglesby have also pledged in-kind contributions for the project.

Wilson said the LCBI learned this week that Northern Illinois University, which won a similar broadband grant of $12 million last month, has agreed to help administer the grant's paperwork and other details should the federal government choose to grant the award.

"This is huge for us," Wilson said. "We now have access to NIU's fiber optic expertise and that unique partnership will give us a better chance in receiving that federal money for La Salle County."

The DeKalb Advancement of Technology Authority Project's fiber network will be built through DeKalb County and is designed to end in Earlville at the northern edge of La Salle County.

"And once it is in Earlville, it would be an easy process for us to link up to their lines and move the network throughout our county," Wilson said.

He stressed if the broadband project becomes a reality, it would be "an incredible step forward for us for economic development, education and quality of life."