NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 7, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT: Dana Kazel, Communications Manager
218-725-5049 or kazeld@stlouiscountymn.gov
Construction begins on county's new Central Range Transportation Facility
St. Louis County leaders broke ground Thursday on the new Central Range Transportation Facility in Balkan Township, northeast of Hibbing. As its name suggests the facility will serve the Central Range region, including Hibbing, Chisholm and surrounding communities.
The new facility's main building will include 51,000 square feet of warm storage space along with 10 mechanics bays. The building also will feature 16,500 square feet of office space. Separate buildings on the 80-acre campus will provide space for cold storage, brine making and other de-icing materials. In total, more than 100,000 square feet of buildings will be constructed on the site.
Public Works operations for this area were previously based out of a facility in Hibbing that was shared with the City of Hibbing and MnDOT. The County's portion of the building was the oldest and presented size and efficiency challenges as it was not big enough for modern sized equipment. With Hibbing needing more space to create its new public safety campus, the County began looking for a new location to design and build a new facility that will ensure faster and more effective response for road maintenance, provide better security, save personnel time, and prolong the life of the equipment.
The facility will be home base for 38 Public Works employees, including 29 maintenance staff responsible for maintaining more than 700 miles of roads. An additional nine employees from the bridge engineering team will also work from the new location.
Among the equipment to be housed at the new facility: 19 tandem trucks, three graders and three excavators. Staff at this location will also provide maintenance support for vehicles based at the county's smaller garages in the region.
The new facility will cost more than $40 million to complete, funded by revenue from the county's transportation sales tax, meaning it requires no funding from property taxes.
"This is an exciting day for the Iron Range," said County Board Chair Mike Jugovich. "We will be utilizing project labor agreements for this project, so we know it will be built well by the women and men of our local building trades."
Construction is expected to take 18 months to complete, with move in anticipated for the fall of 2027. Kraus Anderson is the contractor for the project.
 St. Louis County leaders hosted a groundbreaking to mark the beginning of construction of the new Central Range Transportation Facility. The project is expected to take 18 months to complete, with the facility expected to open in the fall of 2027.
 An architectural rendering of the new Central Range Transpotation Facility is shown while an excavator and other equipment sits in the background.
 St. Louis County Board Chair Mike Jugovich gestures as he talks about the additional economic development benefit that will come from the project as utilities are extended to the site. Looking on is Public Works Director Jim Foldesi.
###
|
