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      The Applicant: Williams Communications, LLC 
      The Applicant, Williams Communications, LLC (Williams), 
        is proposing to construct certain facilities of the Sentry Marysville 
        Project in the City of Sacramento, in Yuba County, and in the City of 
        Biggs in Butte County (Figure 3-1). The proposed project 
        is known as the Williams Communications Sentry Marysville Project. The 
        new fiber optic conduits would be buried underground in existing public 
        or railroad right-of-way (ROW) to a depth of 42 to 48 inches, in a rural 
        community, and alongside cultivated farmlands. 
      Purpose of the Project
      The objective of the proposed project is to: 
      
        - Meet customer-specific service needs in the City of Sacramento and 
          to portions of Yuba and Butte counties, and to provide tie-ins to Qwest 
          and SBC intra- and interstate networks by constructing new fiber optic 
          conduits, cables, and related facilities.
 
           
         
        - Where possible, avoid or mitigate impacts on traffic along the construction 
          routes, on biological and water resources, and on other environmental 
          resources in the project area to a less than significant level.
 
       
      Project Construction 
      The proposed project consists of six segments. As described below, new 
        construction is proposed only for three segments. The remaining segments 
        would utilize existing dark fiber on which multiplexers and amplifiers 
        would be installed and the cables connected to Williams' existing network: 
      
        - Segment 1, the "Sacramento #1" segment, consists of two 
          customer dark fibers from Williams' Sacramento Point of Presence (POP) 2, 
          located at 1005 North B Street, to Williams' Sacramento POP 1, 
          located at 770 L Street, utilizing approximately 1.3 miles of its existing 
          interconnect fibers to cross-connect the customer collocation space 
          at Sacramento POP 2 with a Fiber Distribution Panel (FDP) at Sacramento 
          POP 1. Customer fibers would then be cross-connected from POP 1 
          FDP to riser cable in new conduit at the Qwest space on the sixth floor 
          of 770 L Street. Customer fibers would then be cross-connected to Qwest 
          dark fibers.
 
           
         
        - Segment 2, the "Sacramento #2" segment, consists of two 
          Qwest dark fibers that originate from the Qwest POP on the sixth floor 
          of 770 L Street and travel northeast out of Sacramento on City streets 
          and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) ROW for approximately 42.8 miles to 
          Qwest Splice Point 134.15.
 
           
         
        - Segment 3, the "Ostrom" segment (Figure 3-2), would include 
          conduit system and fiber optic cable. Construction along this segment 
          begins at Qwest Splice Point 134.15 and travels northwest along the 
          UPRR ROW for approximately 900 feet to Ostrom Road in Yuba County. The 
          segment then continues east along Ostrom Road for approximately 4.2 
          miles to the intersection with South Beale Road. From this intersection, 
          the segment continues southwest along South Beale Road for approximately 
          0.2 miles to "White Line Base Demark" where fibers would terminate 
          in a newly installed manhole.
 
           
         
        - Segment 4, the "Avondale" segment (Figure 3-3) begins at 
          PacBell MH 432 at Avondale Road. The route runs along Avondale Road 
          and Hammonton Road for approximately 2000 feet, to Qwest Splice Point 
          139.12 on UPRR property. Construction along this segment would include 
          installation of conduit system and new Lucent Tru-Wave fiber optic cable.
 
           
         
        - Segment 5, the "Yuba City" segment, consists of two Qwest 
          dark fibers from Qwest Splice Point 139.12 on UPRR at Hammonton Road, 
          Yuba City, then travels for approximately 22.5 miles to Qwest Splice 
          Point 168.1 in Biggs.
 
           
         
        - Segment 6, the "Biggs" segment (Figure 3-4) begins at Qwest 
          Splice Point 168.1 and proceeds along the UPRR ROW to the existing Williams 
          Sacramento-to-Portland backbone conduit system. Construction along this 
          segment would consist of installation of Tru-Wave fiber optic cable 
          and development of a railroad crossing. Once in the existing backbone 
          conduit system, customer fibers would be inside newly installed cable 
          to Biggs Regen located at the intersection of Farris and Biggs Gridley 
          Road, Butte County. Customer fibers would then be cross-connected and 
          terminated to Customer collocation space inside Biggs Regen.
 
       
      New cable conduit would be installed underground by trenching and directional 
        boring at water, sensitive resource and railroad crossings. The conduit 
        will consist of 1.5-inch-diameter flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe. 
        Three conduits would be placed along each new construction route. Manholes 
        would also be installed, as well as pipeline markers. 
       
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