New Corridor Strengthens Critical Network Diversity and Resiliency for Enterprises Across the Region

Crosstown Fiber LLC (Crosstown Fiber), a fiber optic infrastructure developer specializing in the design and construction of high-capacity fiber networks, today announced the expansion of its western route connecting Aurora to downtown Chicago, offering enterprises the infrastructure foundation needed for reliability, security, and long-term scalability. Critical network vulnerabilities in the Chicago-Aurora corridor have left enterprises dependent on limited route options, creating single points of failure that threaten business continuity and undermine the region's digital infrastructure resilience.

The new 45-mile (72.5-kilometer) route extends from 350 Cermak in Chicago to 2905 Diehl Road in Aurora, providing a fully independent, underground path between the city and the western suburbs. The route was designed to address a critical need for network diversity, ensuring stable and secure connectivity even in the event of large-scale disruptions affecting other network corridors.

“Our Aurora route is a strategic response to mounting customer demand for genuine redundancy," said Eric Nickla, Chief Revenue Officer of Crosstown Fiber. “We're seeing enterprises increasingly require multiple physically diverse paths, not just multiple providers using the same infrastructure. This route delivers that independence and positions Chicago businesses to compete more effectively in an AI-driven economy that demands zero-tolerance connectivity.”

Key Benefits of the Western Route Expansion include:

• Network diversity: Adds a 100% independent, underground path to strengthen resiliency and reduce the risk of service disruption.
• Performance: Enables low-latency connections between Aurora and Chicago for applications including financial trading, cloud, and data center interconnection.
• Capacity: Expands available fiber to meet increasing regional bandwidth demands.
• Reliability: Designed to maintain consistent operations and ensure service continuity during major network events.

“This route eliminates a critical gap that has constrained regional business growth,” said Michael Underdown, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crosstown Fiber. “We're already seeing strong pre-commitment interest from healthcare systems, financial services, and technology companies that require carrier-grade reliability for their mission-critical applications. The timing aligns perfectly with increased enterprise spending on network resilience infrastructure.”

This expansion marks an important step in strengthening regional network infrastructure. By increasing route diversity between Aurora and Chicago, Crosstown Fiber is supporting the continuity and reliability of critical communications for organizations that depend on consistent, high-capacity connectivity. New customer connections are now being accepted along the Aurora route as part of Crosstown Fiber’s expanding regional network.

For more information on Crosstown Fiber’s infrastructure and services, visit www.crosstownfiber.com.

About Crosstown Fiber:

Crosstown Fiber is an owner, operator and developer of a fiber telecommunications network designed to support large-scale data deployments by the most discerning customers. Headquartered in the Chicago-land area, the company’s fiber-optic network represents the first comprehensive, city-wide fiber build in Chicago since the late 1990’s. Crosstown’s high fiber capacity, underground network features unique routes, utilizing a redundant ring structure with a network footprint spanning all of Chicago. The company’s mission is to serve anyone and everyone with a need for faster, more reliable fiber connectivity solutions, including – AI/ML, hyperscale, data center, enterprise, wholesale, municipal/government, small cell, education entities, and beyond. Crosstown's robust, secure new fiber optic conduit system brings the capability of more broadband, to more people, for more applications.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251021894240/en/

Crosstown Fiber’s new 45-mile underground route between Aurora and Chicago delivers the independent connectivity enterprises need to ensure reliability, resiliency, and low-latency performance across the region.