Work Begins on $87M Michigan Middle Mile Project
Project will pass fiber through island relying on DSL.
WASHINGTON, August 12, 2025 – A remote Michigan island long dependent on DSL will soon be connected to the mainland by a direct fiber link.
Peninsula Fiber Network has begun work on an $87 million middle-mile broadband project designed to connect Beaver Island to the rest of mainland Michigan.
Dubbed the infrastructure for Michigan’s peninsulas and critical crossings, or IMPACC Project, it will connect Beaver Island to the rest of Michigan via an open-access fiber network. PFN will provide telecommunications, transport and broadband services.
Beaver Island, located in the northernmost region of Lake Michigan, is the largest island in the lake and has a year-round population of roughly 600 residents, though the population increases substantially in the summer.
Residents of Beaver Island currently depend on DSL or satellite for internet service. The island’s only terrestrial provider, TDS Telecom, has promised to upgrade its networks to allow for speeds of 100 * 20 Megabits per second (Mbps) in exchange for funding from the federal Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model.
Though residents of Beaver Island petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to condition Enhanced ACAM funds on deploying fiber, the commission ultimately decided to adopt a technology neutral approach.
Because the island was to be served by a provider receiving Enhanced ACAM funds, it was ineligible for funding from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, including funding for a fiber network. Though TDS has promised to deploy fiber on the island, its residents have expressed concerns that it may not follow through on its commitment.
The IMPACC Project, which received $61.2 million in funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure program and $26 million in private funding, will build three different routes.
The first route will connect Byron Center to Benton Harbor to Chicago via on-land and underwater fiber cables. The second route will also use on-land and underwater fiber cables to connect Gulliver to Beaver Island to Charlevoix and Gaylord. The third route, which was started in June, will connect Port Huron to Flint via 111 miles of on-land fiber.
Speaking about the second route, Jennifer Greenburg, vice president of government affairs for Peninsula Fiber Network, noted that the company had deliberately chosen to build the route through Beaver Island.
“This route was designed specifically to stop on Beaver Island so that the folks on the island would now have a wired connection,” she said.
Though additional environmental reviews and permits are needed to begin construction on the first and second routes, the projects were expected to be completed by 2028. The project will not only connect Beaver Island to the rest of Michigan, but will also provide the state with an additional fiber network connecting its upper and lower peninsulas. Currently, only one fiber route connects the two peninsulas through Mackinac Bridge.
Though the IMPACC Project will not directly connect locations on the island to the internet, residents have proposed a $9.3 million community-owned fiber-to-the-home network that could use the Middle Mile network to provide broadband service to all 1,130 homes and businesses. A vote on that project has been scheduled for November 2026.
Dick Mulvihill, vice president of the Beaver Island Association, was ecstatic about the IMPACC Project.
“It’s a major, major, major win,” he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that 123NET would serve as a retail broadband provider on the Beaver Island project.
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