How blazing Internet speeds helped Chattanooga shed its smokestack past

It was once so polluted in Chattanooga (TN) that people had to drive through town with their headlights on all day. The old Chattanooga is long gone. Today, the city has some of the cleanest air and water in the region. Chattanooga's transformation has been decades in the making, but the construction of one of the largest and fastest Internet networks in the Western Hemisphere will be key to helping the city write the next chapter for the 21st century. The city represents the vanguard of communities pushing for better Internet service and serves as a model for the benefits that can stem from broader online access. The Gig, as the locals call its network, has attracted billions of dollars in new investment and a flock of entrepreneurs to the city, who may come to the city for the promise of superfast broadband, but stay for the easy, affordable lifestyle, abundant outdoor activities and hip culture.

Chattanooga may seem like an unlikely place for a tech hub, but a long history of progressive thinking has put the midsize southeastern city -- two hours north of Atlanta -- in an enviable position. Today, the network, which has been recognized as a model of innovation by President Barack Obama, is the largest and longest-running deployment of gigabit broadband in the nation, spanning 600 square miles and covering the entire population of Chattanooga -- 170,000 -- with access to ultra high-speed broadband.