The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration announced it has awarded a $627,237 grant to the city of Indianola to support an access road project that will serve a workforce training facility for electrical line workers. The EDA grant, which will be matched with an equal local investment, is expected to create nearly 3,500 jobs. The grant will be used to expand the roadway and utilities along Iowa Avenue to provide access for the expansion of the Missouri Valley Joint Apprentice Training Center in Indianola. The facility will help train skilled workers and create high-paying jobs in the electrical industry. As reported by the Des Moines Register in October, the $13.5 million center will consolidate five existing training facilities in the Upper Midwest into one location. The $1.5 million road project will pave Iowa Avenue a quarter mile east from 15th Street and reconstruct the intersection of Iowa Avenue and 15th Street.