Feb 20, 2023

All underground construction on the first of the 4 package expansion of the CSFN network sponsored by Cook County under a grant of $1.8M from the State of Illinois as part of the Connect Illinois broadband expansion initiative and County matching funds will be complete by February 28.

Constituents connecting to this portion of the network include Moraine Valley Community College main campus in Palos Hills and the Moraine Valley Community College – South West Education Center in Tinley Park. The network will provide Gigabit connectivity to the campus locations and eventually interconnect all their campus locations to the CSFN. Randy Basick MVCC Director, Infrastructure and Network Services Information Technology said that he “is excited and anxious for the turnup”.

The network will also provide gigabit internet connectivity to communities along the fifteen mile route from Tinley Park to Palos Hills. Anchor institutions along the path include the Village of Palos Heights, Village of Palos Park and the Village of Orland Hills, Village of Tinley Park.

Cook County in a partnership with the Village of Tinley Park, Village of Orland Park and Consolidated High School District 230 worked to use existing fiber optic conduit and fiber resources to accomplish this expansion.

Palos Park Commissioner Nicole Milovich-Walters commented that the network would bring highly reliable gigabit fiber internet for public safety and public works needs and to interconnect the Village facilities. She said that this is “the most economical solution that provides Palos Park with it’s own private network and no use of cable.” With this solution Milovich-Walters said that “we will be saving money and have a more secure and faster network” than the much slower cable connections currently being used by the Village.

With the completion of this package fiber is now available to serve future business expansion in Orland Park along the I-80 and the LaGrange Road corridor as well as anywhere along the path.