Plans for a new broadband internet connection running under Lake Michigan from Chicago to Southwest Michigan have received a boost from Benton Harbor City Commissioners.

At their regular meeting this week, commissioners approved a request from Peninsula Fiber Network to drill soil borings at Jean Klock Park to check underground conditions in preparation for the Middle Mile Infrastructure Program.

Peninsula is planning a broadband connection from “extremely fast servers” in northern Chicago to Benton Harbor. It’s also planning a connection from southern Chicago to St. Joseph. Those two points will then head north to an inter-exchange carrier facility in Byron Center for better high-speed internet in Michigan.

To lay the groundwork for the connection, Peninsula is planning soil borings of between 80 and 180 feet deep at Jean Klock Park near the entrance drive at the south end of the park, where an Abonmarche analysis says there are minimal utilities. Abonmarche says it has “no objection regarding the methods of obtaining the geotechnical work.”

There is an alternate site along Hole 7 at Harbor Shores.

The holes being drilled by PFB will be about eight inches to one foot in diameter, and the company will fill them in when finished. PFN must take soil and rock samples to check geological features underground ahead of the broadband line installation.

Benton Harbor City Commissioners Monday approved the project with Commissioners Juanita Henry and Emma Kinnard voting no.