By Shannon Fiecke, Correspondent 

An important step in the migration to digital emergency radio communication in Scott County is nearly complete.

Construction of an approximately 90-mile fiber-optic ring around the county, which began last June, is done, and now the county is in the process of “lighting up” the system.

The underground network will support this year’s upgrade to an 800-megahertz radio system, but it also greatly expands bandwidth for local governments and improves electronic communication among them and the state. The network will connect Scott County to the state as well as Dakota County and the Lakeville and Burnsville school districts.

All cities and school districts in Scott County are hooking up to the network, which is expected to be fully operational by the end of May.

The upper portion of the ring — including connections to the county highway department and the cities of Prior Lake, Savage and Shakopee — will be operational first, with testing near or already concluded. The connection to the 511 building in Minneapolis, where the fiber originates, is already functioning.

 The county paid to connect the fiber ring to cities and school districts, which will pay the annual maintenance cost of their laterals.

Scott County Deputy Administrator Gary Shelton said the Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative in Jordan is also looking into using the fiber ring.

 Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6679 or sfiecke@swpub.com.