Description: This layer contains the Version 2.1 BEAD Project Area Unit (PAU) boundaries, last updated March 28th, 2025.PAUs define the areas where prospective applicants can bid for funding under the federal BEAD program. The final version of the PAUs comes after OBAE made extensive changes in response to public comments and suggestions. These changes resulted in a greater number of PAUs that took greater account for existing network infrastructure, allowing applicants to better design successful BEAD projects.Note: OBAE has received formal approval of the BEAD Challenge Process results by NTIA. However, in the time since the Challenge Process has ended, OBAE has been made aware of new enforceable commitments and defaults. OBAE is currently in the process of deduplicating the NTIA BEAD-Eligible BSLs using this new grant information. When this deduplication process is complete, the PAUs will be updated to contain attributes which summarize the amount of Unserved (BEAD-Eligible), Underserved and Served BSLs within each unit. Additionally, PAUs without any eligible locations for BEAD will be removed from the map.Prequalified Tribal communities, nonprofits, internet service providers, cooperatives and other entities may submit applications for BEAD, the state’s largest funding program to deploy broadband infrastructure, starting January 3, 2025. The state will be awarding $675 million in grants through BEAD.If you have any questions about the PAUs or the BEAD program in general, please email OBAE at: Broadband@connect.nm.govOBAE used the following geographic boundaries to split the state of New Mexico into 255 PAUs:NTIA High-Cost Areas – NTIA High-Cost Areas were given their own PAUs, represented by the abbreviation "HC" in the PAU name (note: many of these High Cost Areas were subdivided into a collection of smaller PAUs). Tribal Boundaries – Tribal areas were made into their own PAUs (non-contiguous regions of the same Tribe/Pueblo are all one PAU). PAUs representing Tribal Land are denoted with the abbreviation "TL" in their name.For Tribal areas partially overlapping NTIA High-Cost Areas, separate PAUs were created from the overlap (similar to a Venn diagram). These areas contain the abbreviation "TL/HC" in their PAU name.School Districts – School district boundaries were used as the starting point for the majority of the PAUs.Census Tracts/ Block Groups – For larger or densely populated areas, Census Tracts or CBGs were used to further subdivide. Other infrastructure/geographic boundaries (roads, rivers, mountain ranges, wire center boundaries, etc.) -- for larger or more densely populated areas that could not be subdivided by the above boundaries, other infrastructure/geographic boundaries such as major highways, geographic features, and wire center boundaries were used.The features in this GIS layer are "topology-correct," meaning there are no gaps or overlaps between features.Source data used to digitize PAU boundaries:NM Census Block Groups + Tracts -- U.S. Census Bureau 2023 New Mexico TIGER/Line Geodatabase Index of /geo/tiger/TGRGDB23 (census.gov)NM School Districts -- "School Districts 2023," New Mexico Public Education Department School District Boundary Atlas, EDAC/RGIS Browse rgis data School Districts 2023 (unm.edu) NOTE: this layer originally contained topology errors (overlaps and gaps between features) when downloaded from RGIS. During the creation of this PAU layer, school districts were simplified to correct topology errors. Please contact michael.felzan@respec.com with questions or to request the topology-corrected version of this layer.NM Tribal Land (Pueblos, Reservations, Off-Reservation Trust Land, Joint-Use Areas) -- 2020 Census American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Areas (AIANNH) New Mexico TIGER/Line Shapefile, 2020, Nation, U.S., American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian (AIANNH) Areas - Catalog (data.gov)Navajo Nation Regions -- shapefile obtained via Navajo Nation Land DepartmentNM High Cost Areas -- NTIA Block Group Extremely High-Cost Areas BEAD Allocation Methodology | Internet for AllNM Hydrography Lines -- U.S. Geological Survey, 2023, National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR) - USGS National Map Downloadable Data Collection - ScienceBase-CatalogNM Road Lines -- New Mexico Road Centerlines, NM911, published 4/30/2024 via https://rgis.unm.edu/Wire Center Boundaries -- data obtained from GeoTelSpatial Reference: NAD83 / UTM Zone 13N (EPSG: 26913)Field Descriptions:PAU_Name -- Name of PAU. Each name generally describes the School District/Tribe or Pueblo the PAU falls within + two-digit number. PAUs which represent Tribal Land, NTIA High Cost areas, or areas in which Tribal Land intersects NTIA High Cost Areas are denoted by the abbreviations, "TL," "HC," "TL/HC," respectively.PAU_OID -- Unique numeric ID given to each PAU.Area_SqMi -- Area of the PAU in square miles.PctBSLsLowIncome -- Percentage of BSLs which are low income within the PAU.Num_Served -- Number of Served BSLs within the PAU.Num_Underserved -- Number of Underserved BSLs within the PAU.Num_Unserved -- Number of Unserved BSLs within the PAU.Tot_BSLs -- Total number of BSLs (Served+Underserved+Unserved) within the PAU.BSLStatsVintage -- Date/Vintage which corresponds to the Served/Underserved/Unserved BSL counts per PAU.Info -- Version and Last Updated Date of layer.
Service Item Id: 68fabc99605a45f09698e2743a23c4f4
Copyright Text: The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE)
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