SALAMANCA — Southern Tier West Regional Planning and Development Agency is moving forward with efforts to provide broadband connections from Falconer in Chautauqua County to Whitesville in Allegany County, Southern Tier Extension Railroad Authority upgrades and a multimodal facility.

The organization’s staff told the agency’s board of directors Thursday they hope to receive $4.5 million in grants and could begin construction of a broadband system late next year.

A grant request is due Aug. 14 from the broadband stimulus package administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and from the Economic Development Administration. Another $900,000 will be needed from local sources, including Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties’ industrial development agencies, as well as private industry and telephone companies that have been recruited as partners.

“We’ve been talking about this since 2006, and it’s taken on a lot of steam in 12 months. We’ve solidified partners, [two] funding agencies, the local counties and the private sector and that has helped out a lot,” said Richard Zink of Southern Tier West.

He said larger users and new businesses will be served at a low cost by the project’s high-speed connectivity and bandwidth. New business development will be encouraged along the broadband corridor that has been mapped out by ECC Technologies of Syracuse, a consulting firm that will present the full report at the board’s Aug. 20 meeting.

Construction of towers and other wireless infrastructure to serve nine towns in northern Allegany County is awaiting a $613,000 payment that has been delayed by the state’s financial problems. Zink said that system, deemed more appropriate due to the hilly terrain in that region, can be up and running quickly as an expansion of a current enterprise, Southern Tier Wireless based in Rushford.

Agency executive director Don Rychnowski received board approval to seek a $20 million grant under the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Grant program. A proposed multimodal facility in the City of Olean, along with rail and cross-tie replacements, siding upgrades, trainload site improvements would be part of the project application.

STERA, the 140-mile Western New York and Pennsylvania railroad, and STW will team up on the project, each contributing $5,000 to pay a professional transportation consultant to develop the application.

“It’s a long shot, but $20 million would go a long way to make this a real viable railroad,” he said.

The board also received a list of the STW region’s top eight preapplications for Appalachian Regional Commission funding in the 2010 fiscal year. Rychnowski said awards totaling $435,000 would be needed to fund the top four, or $585,000 to fund the top five. The ranking was mailed to the sponsors Wednesday and appeals may be filed within a week and could change the rankings.

After that time, the full applications will be sent to the Department of State for review of the Agency’s recommendations.