Iowa To Be Site Of Utility Lineman Training Facility

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) -- Construction has begun in south-central Iowa on a $13.5 million, 50,000 square-foot facility to train power pole linemen in several Midwest states.

The Des Moines Register reports that the Missouri Valley Line Constructors Apprenticeship and Training Program is building the facility in an industrial park in Indianola. Construction is expected to be complete in the fall of 2020.

Program director Robbie Foxen says the one-story building will sit on 46 acres, and a pole yard for high voltage power lines and training structures will be spread across the grounds.

It will be the primary training center for Missouri Valley contract linemen, traffic signal technicians and substation technicians from Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The program already has five training centers in the seven states it serves. Foxen says the new facility is being built in Indianola because it is centrally located.

More than 1,000 workers are expected to pass through the new center annually.

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