Comments:

These facilities serve a fiber optic route once jointly owned by AT&T Corp. and Velocita (formerly PF.net). PF.net along with Touch America and CapRock Communications were charged with the task of constructing the majority of AT&T Corportation's next generation fiber optic backbone, generally utilizing existing AT&T ROW. For their services all three companies where allowed to use existing use about half of all trenched conduit for their own build out. This post to the yahoogroups Arlington Heights Civic Association group details how this trenching was done for part of Washington, D.C. to Greensboro, NC segement of the Boston, MA-Atlanta, GA(?) route. Unfortunately Velocita (PF.net) went bankrupt and their assets purchased by AT&T. At this point, the occiasional manhole cover and co-branded match stick marker are the only trace of PF.net/Veloctia.

According to a copy of Velocita's network information page (from 02/23/2001, courtesy of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine) the network of POPs and amplifiers utilize state of the art Lucent TrueWave® RS fiber optic cable which supports DWDM transmission for speeds up to 40Gbps. However, the backbone was originally supposed to go into service supporting OC-192 speeds only.

TrueWave® is a registered trademark of Lucent Technologiess and is used only for the purpose of identification and NOT AFFILIATION as are other proper tradenames contained herein.

Route markers (of a different make!) have been seen in northern Delaware (I believe it was along US 1) as well as a possible repeater site. However as for points north the path of the route is unknown. The route from Arlington to Conklin is confusing but seems to follow Braddock Road into Loudoun County and then into the woods and farms of that area where the cable joins an existing AT&T fiber optic cable (the Conklin facility was not seen as far back as 12/2003). From there the path goes to some part of Stafford County bypassing an abandonded repeater site (of older vintage) and onto Richmond (most likely to Moseley).

However, the route out of Richmond and into North Carolina is far less byzantine in complexity. The route seems to make an eastward turn around Colonial Heights and continues east along Rt. 10 through Hopewell to the Surry Courthouse regenerator/amplifier site. From the Surry Courthouse facility the fiber continues to hug Rt. 10 through Smithfield and ontop Rt. 258/32 where it breifly goes through Suffolk and into Portsmouth. Once in Portsmouth the route heads towards the mid-town tunnel and then underneath the Elizabeth River . Route markers can also be seen on the Norfolk side of the mid-town tunnel. However, the markers soon disappear as the route most likely makes a line towards AT&T's Bute St. switch. Like Moseley, Bute St. is a nuclear hardended facility dating back to the early days of the Cold War hardended facility dating back to the early days of the Cold War (although the Bell Atlantic side probably existed for many years prior to the Cold War). Numerous CLECs bring their fiber into this facility so it would be a good point at which to sell backhaul circuits. Bute St. is also an access POP and long distance switch site for AT&T.

From Norfolk the fiber probably heads southward out of Norfolk probably via the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake. Eventually the route gets on to Rt. 13 and follows this south through Suffolk and into rural Gates County, NC where the fiber enters a repeater facility near Reynoldson. From the Reynoldson facility markers continue south along Hwy 11 (eventually Hwy 42 merges with Hwy 11) to a regenerator facility outside of Oak City. Fiber then goes into the town of Oak City and veers west along Hwy 125 and then bearing south along Mayo Farm Rd. (Rt. 1329). The fiber is suspected to follow Mayo Farm Road to Hobgood and then south on Hwy 122 into or around Tarboro and probably into Sprint Local's Rocky Mount tandem office (also an AT&T long distance switch site).

It is hoped this lengthy discription can be replaced with a map in the near future.

Alteast one other repeater facility has been is known to exist in the Salisbury, NC area. However, that is south of Greensboro and beyond the scope of this page at this time. The Salisbury, NC repeater has been included for completeness.

Route facilities:

Facility	Site
Facility ID: Arlington 2 Location: 900 S. Walter Reed Dr. Arlington Co., VA Picture Date: 04/17/2005 Comments: LD 4ESS switch site/Access POP
Facility ID: Conklin? Location: 25770/6 Gum Springs Rd. Conklin, Loudoun Co. VA Picture Date: 12/27/2004 Comments: per 09/04/2001 Loudoun Co. hearing AT&T is 25770, PF.net is 25776
Facility ID: Rockville? Location: 2440 Rockville Rd. Rockville, Goochland Co., VA Picture Date: 06/25/2005 Comments: Thanks to an attentive reader for the heads up!
Facility ID: Surry Courthouse? Location: W. Colonial Trl. Surry Co., VA Picture Date: 05/22/2004 Comments:
Facility ID: Reynoldson? Location: S. NC 13 Reynoldson, Gates Co., NC Picture Date: 05/29/2004 Comments:
Facility ID: Oak City? Location: W. Hwy 903 & S. Hwy 11/42 Martin Co., NC Picture Date: 05/29/2004 Comments: also route test point
Facility ID: Salisbury? Location: end of E. Ridge Rd. Salisbury, NC Picture Date: Comments: See Salisbury Council Minutes