City and business leaders from Marshalltown gathered last night to cut a ribbon heralding the opening of a rebuilt Highway 330. Beverly nelson-Forbes is former economic development director. She calls it a miracle, since the project wasn’t even in a transportation department 20-year plan, and she says folks in Washington just got tired of seeing the persistent highway backers. Bernard Roy is general manager of Lenox, and says the furnace maker was instrumental in pushing for the work that’s made the highway four-lane all the way to Des Moines. Roy says the road gives more options to residents and workers in and around the city of Marshalltown. Roy says they’re hiring people and finding they’d rather live outside town, in a rural area where they can still easily travel to Marshalltown. Roy says the Marshalltown plant has picked up the production from a closed Toronto factory that made 220-thousand furnaces a year. He says they’ve invested sixteen-million dollars in the line the past year and think it will continue. After a few more details are finished, the completed four-lane highway will open the end of November, a full month ahead of schedule.
