The Johnson County Board of Supervisors recently had a study conducted to assess the broadband in the county. With the results showing that nearly 54% of residents and businesses have access to fiber, Johnson County is taking steps to bring those numbers up.

At the February 22 work session, Josh Busard, Director of Johnson County’s Planning, Development, and Sustainability department shared that the efforts to improve broadband in the county began over one year ago, with specific goals in mind. “We wanted everybody to have the same abilities to be able to do three things: work from home, educate from home, and conduct healthcare from home.”

HR Green, an engineering consulting firm out of Cedar Rapids, conducted the study, which identified many rural areas in need of broadband improvements, with one such area just north of Kalona. The needs of the county have been illustrated at a time when Iowa is anticipating millions of dollars in federal money to become available for broadband purposes.

Ken Demlow, a group manager with the firm, explained, “We’re really in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for grants. The infrastructure bill that was signed by the president last year has $45 billion just for broadband. Estimates at this point is that the state of Iowa is going to get around $1 billion.”

While grant money is not available yet, the next step for Johnson County is to complete an invitation to qualify (ITQ) for the state. This process allows the county and state of Iowa to prioritize areas in most need of broadband improvements. The application window for the ITQ closes on March 31.