• The route will run along Winnipeg Street from 13th Avenue to 5th Avenue and create a second connection for Northern Health
  • Revenue from municipal fibre rentals will fund the project as hospital tower construction is expected to sever an existing link

The fact

Prince George City Council has unanimously approved a C$400,000 capital project to install a new fibre-optic route for Northern Health, the health authority serving northern British Columbia. The cable will run along Winnipeg Street from 13th Avenue to 5th Avenue and form part of the city’s underground fibre network.

Northern Health told the city that its existing connection will be severed when construction begins on the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia patient-care tower. The health authority plans to restore that connection at its own cost and has asked for a second connection through the municipal network. Construction on the 11-storey tower is expected to begin in autumn 2026.

The city leases fibre connections to other public organisations and puts the revenue into a dedicated reserve for network expansion. Finance and IT director Kris Dalio said the reserve has enough money to fund the new route.

The assessment

The fibre work has a deadline set by the hospital build. Before construction severs the existing Northern Health connection, the city and health authority need to coordinate the new municipal route with restoration of the affected link.

Prince George already has a funding source for its part of that work. Revenue from organisations using the municipal fibre network is being reinvested in the additional connection, while Northern Health will pay to restore the route disrupted by construction. The city and health authority are therefore funding separate parts of the network work.

For BTW readers, the key issue is sequencing. The practical value of the C$400,000 route depends on whether it is activated before care-tower construction severs the existing connection. The reporting does not establish full physical route diversity, so the second link should be treated as added connectivity rather than proven end-to-end redundancy.

What to watch

Watch when the new route is installed and activated, and when care-tower construction reaches the point that the existing connection is severed. Northern Health's restoration timetable will show how the two links are sequenced. Any later disclosure on physical route separation or service arrangements would clarify whether the project provides a genuinely diverse second path or simply an additional municipal connection.