BendBroadband has taken the first steps toward building the fiber-optic highway that will bring high-speed Internet to areas of Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties.

Using federal money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, along with its own contribution, the company has started conducting environmental assessments and awarding construction contracts to build five fiber-optic lines that will bring broadband to La Pine, Madras, Prineville and Sunriver, said Frank Miller, BendBroadband’s chief technology officer.

Federal stimulus funding provided $7.2 billion nationwide to extend high-speed Internet to underserved areas, according to a Nov. 1 report by the Oregon Broadband Advisory Council.

Oregon received $52 million in federal broadband loans and grants, the report states, and BendBroadband won a $4.4 million grant to build the fiber-optic network to the four Central Oregon communities.

The company will kick in $1.9 million to bring the total project cost to around $6.3 million.

In Bend, Redmond and Sisters, high-speed Internet has been available for more than a dozen years, Miller said in an e-mail, and in its application for the federal stimulus grant, BendBroadband described Bend as “an island of broadband opportunity” and “a technology oasis,” as a result of the company’s “foresight and investment.”

“… But the surrounding areas of Central Oregon lack adequate broadband connectivity to this oasis, to each other, and to the Internet beyond,” the application states.

BendBroadband and representatives from government, health care, education, public safety and business formed the Central Oregon Fiber Alliance to build the high-speed Internet highway over an area nearly the size of New Jersey, according to the application.

When connected, it will bring broadband to government, educational and health care institutions throughout the region, making services available to benefit the public.

For example, high-speed Internet will allow residents in the areas to use telemedicine to reach regional, state and national health care providers.

Central Oregon Community College will be able to provide distance education from the main campus in Bend to rural sites in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties.

It also will build optical networks to business parks in each city, to spur economic development, according to the application.

Along with creating two permanent jobs at Bend-Broadband, the project will employ 14 fiber technicians for a year and create 59 other full-time jobs during construction, according to the application.

BendBroadband estimates improved high-speed Internet connections in the region will eventually lead to 115 permanent jobs.

The project calls for contractors to install about 130 miles of fiber-optic cable on five different routes in Central Oregon:

• Bend to Prineville

• Bend to La Pine

• Bend to Sunriver

• Madras to Prineville

• Redmond to Madras

Slightly more than 86 percent of the line will be above ground, using existing power and telephone poles where available, according to BendBroadband’s construction bidding documents.

The project will bring high-speed connections to 25 buildings housing public agencies and nonprofits, such as local governments, public safety agencies, libraries, schools and health care providers.

Consumers will likely have to wait a little longer.

The federal grant calls for extending the fiber-optic network to the communities. Internet Service Providers in the communities will need to provide the connections to homes.

Officially, BendBroadband received the award in late June, according to a federal Recovery Act website.

The company expected to spend about $55,600 through the second quarter, mostly on administrative, architectural, engineering, and legal fees and expenses related to obtaining rights of way, according to a status report filed with the government in late October.

BendBroadband hopes to start construction next summer, Miller said in the e-mail, and begin service in early 2012.