Photo 1: A worker uses a locator to determine where conduit has been bored.

Photo 2: Crew members are clearing out a handhole.

Photo 3: Paint markings indicate location and direction of underground utilities.

Top photo: The boring machine drills into the ground to create passage for the fiber conduit.
Bottom left: Superintendent Mike Scott, Board member Mark Watson and NIS project manager Glenn Sexton check out the boring machine.
Bottom center: Standing next to a two-ton spool of conduit, Juan explains next steps to Mike Scott and Glenn Sexton.
Bottom right: Juan connects the conduit to the end of the drill. Next, the drill will run backward to pull the conduit through the underground hole.

The first directional boring of the City's and District's fiber optic network took place on March 14, 2019, at McKinney Elementary School, and project crews installed the conduit for the fiber optic cable that will be part of the network's backbone.

To start, a drill bored a long hole underground and surfaced after about 100 feet, then the orange-colored conduit was attached to the end of the drill and pulled back through the hole to the beginning. A second boring machine stood ready to extend the hole further along the route. This sequence will be repeated as the installation of miles of line continues throughout the district over the next year.

School Board member Mark Watson and Superintendent Mike Scott observed the work and helped commemorate this launch of the network.

Once the backbone ring is completed around the first block of schools, fiber backbone cable will be spliced to HSD fiber optic lines (already installed). McKinney, along with other schools in the first phase, is expected to go "live" on the fiber network in July 2019. Eventually, all HSD schools and buildings are expected to be connected to the City's network backbone by April 2020.