Roanoke council approves fiber-optic contract for new police building

The new police and municipal building in Roanoke will have fiber-optic connectivity courtesy of federal funding.

Roanoke City Council approved a contract with Aubrey-based RTEL Construction to provide a fiber-optic network from the new police and municipal court building on June 11, connecting the facility to the Denton County radio tower site off Independence Parkway. Money for the project comes from American Rescue Plan Act funds, city officials said.

Zooming in

The contract amount is $369,042.54. Among its many uses, the ARPA provides funds for municipalities for a number of projects. The police and municipal building is being constructed at Fairway Drive and Park Drive, and will include a new 43,006-square-foot building and a 16,892-square-foot indoor gun range. The building's groundbreaking was held in December.

The details

This fiber-optic connection will be used for radio communication between the new police department building and the Denton County radio tower site, a council agenda memo states.

“This will be part of the backhaul connection to Denton County that enables radio communication,” the memo states, adding a connection back to Denton County must exist for the dispatch consoles to function.