The California Department of Technology (CDT) posted a video update this week of its efforts, along with those of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and other state agencies, on what’s new since July. The video, available here, showcases an animated map of existing and planned broadband routes, along with short interviews with those doing the work. The cast features Amy Tong, secretary of the California Government Operations Agency (GovOps), and Liana Bailey-Crimmins, the state chief information officer and director of CDT.

Middle-mile broadband has been described as the “interstate highways of the Internet,” as it’s designed to carry large amounts of data between and among communities where broadband service is now expensive or unavailable. Middle-mile broadband doesn’t directly connect to consumers or businesses; that function is primarily served by Internet service providers (ISPs).

The video update portrays crews trenching and pulling cables, and it highlights work being done in the Sacramento area’s 256-mile Capitol Route, “ensuring our state’s Capitol region remains at the forefront of connectivity and progress.”

In the next three months, the video says, the MMBI will begin construction on more than 30 new segments, “adding about 1,500 miles of fiber, building toward more than 3,200 miles in active construction, by the end of 2024.”

For those interested in a deeper, data-driven overview of the MMBI plan, the state maintains a website that offers granular detail.