DULUTH — Road and bridge construction will proceed as planned in St. Louis County after the federal government OK’d the use of project labor agreements.
Thanks to behind-the-scenes efforts by Minnesota's elected officials, the Federal Highway Administration officially approved the PLAs Monday, April 27.
The federal government has to approve PLAs on projects that use federal funds, and the Federal Highway Administration had yet to do so by early April; approval is typically given by October.
By that time, the county couldn’t wait for a decision without projects getting delayed. The FHWA said if the county moved forward without approval, it would lose its federal funding for those projects.
The county has historically used the labor agreements in its projects to ensure work stoppages don’t cause construction delays.
St. Louis County had worked out a unique, one-time agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to exchange federal funds to keep some projects moving forward. County Communications Manager Dana Kazel said that exchange is no longer happening.
"We will move quickly to put these projects out for bid so that they can be completed this construction year as originally planned," Kazel said in a statement.
"St. Louis County is extremely grateful to everyone at the federal, state and local levels who assisted us in working toward a solution, including our partners at MnDOT."
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