March 2026 News
The month of March brings the official start of spring and we’re hopeful for warmer weather to support the continued construction of Dryden Fiber across the town. Today, Dryden Fiber reaches over 1,800 parcels across town. Our goal is that by the end of the year, 100% of the inhabited parcels have service available. If you are interested in Dryden Fiber, please check our online map and verify your parcel is green, yellow, or orange. If it isn’t, let us know so we can update our plan to make sure we can reach your home.
There is a variety of construction activities going on throughout Dryden. You might see any of the following:
- Tree management – Much of our project makes use of existing utility poles (often owned by NYSEG), and we need to make sure the lines are free of branches and limbs following state mandated requirements for buffer zones. This means our assigned tree crews will be visiting properties to assess tree management and then go onsite to cut trees within the designated easement areas around poles and lines. They will knock on doors in advance of visiting the poles in your neighborhood. The partner companies are Danella, H. Richardson & Son, or H.R.S. Forestry operating with bucket trucks.
- Utility pole line moves – The existing attached utilities (electricity, phone, cable) and new utilities (fiberoptic) have distance requirements as set by the National Electrical Code on a pole. To conform, we are required to move each attachment on each pole to make room for our strand and fiber service. The partner companies are Danella and H. Richardson & Sons operating with bucket trucks.
- Utility pole replacement – From time to time, the utility poles do not have enough space for either adding Dryden Fiber or to have proper ground clearance or due to poles being aged out; and thus, we have to replace poles. The new poles often are taller and all services connecting to the new pole are higher and more out of the way of residents and vehicles. The partner companies are Danella and H. Richardson & Son operating with bucket trucks.
- Strand installation – Strand is the strong hardwire line strung between utility poles. Our crews (from Syracuse Utilities) will attach strand throughout the network. The partner company is Syracuse Utilities, operating with bucket trucks.
- Fiber optic cable aerial installation – For 90% of our project, the fiber optic cable will use existing utility poles and will be lashed to the strand we install between the poles. The partner company is Syracuse Utilities, operating with bucket trucks.
- Underground conduit and fiber installation – For 10% of our project, we will bore (dig / tunnel) underground and place orange plastic conduit (or innerduct) and the fiber underground anywhere from 12 to 30 inches deep. This will go in the road’s right-of-way, often parallel to existing roads. This portion of construction includes buried handholes (a manhole that is hand size, typically 18-24 inches deep and 24x36 inch or smaller lid sitting flush with the surface of the ground. The partner company is Syracuse Utilities, operating with drilling equipment and associated vehicles (water service for the drill, flatbed trucks to bring drills in and out of town).
These vehicles, as well as vehicles from Vantage Point Solutions (“Vantage”), our engineering firm, will be working throughout Dryden for the rest of 2026. Please adhere to construction zone signage.
If you have questions about the project, please contact me at dave@drydenfiber.com.
Dave Makar
Executive Director
Dryden Fiber