Transportation - Utilities - Communications

Moving goods and services from Kossuth County to major markets is easily achievable with air, rail, highway & high-speed internet service. Local utilities and cooperatives serve the area with gas, electricity and communications.

Transportation

Highway Access — With 1,156 square miles of roadway in Kossuth County, moving goods and services to market is easy. 499 square miles are paved roadway. Of the 499 square miles, 470 are farm-to-market roads. Two U.S. highways and a principal state highway crisscross the county.

Alternative Transportation — A unique program supported by the North Iowa Area Council of Governments (NIACOG) provides low-cost bus service within the county. NIACOG's "taxis" operate throughout the county and transport to and from Mason City on weekdays. In addition, NIACOG and the City of Algona operate a weekday taxi service in Algona offering subsidized fares for all riders.

Rail — Three rail lines service Kossuth County

• North/South Union Pacific — Extends from north of Burt and travels south through Algona onto the switch at Eagle Grove, Iowa. This switch allows freight to travel in any direction with lines to all major Midwestern trade centers.
• East/West IC & E (Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad Corp.) — Transverses east/west across the northern section of the county to provide freight service to metropolitan trade centers. Services Mason City, Dubuque, Davenport, Ottumwa, Kansas City, MO and Chicago, IL.
• East/West Union Pacific — Services the southern portion of the county with links to lines running directly to Sioux City, Cedar Rapids, IA and Omaha, NE.

Air

• Primary air access is available at the Algona Municipal Airport. The facility is rated Class 2 with a 3,960 foot, lighted, concrete runway and a 2,880 foot grass runway. Unicom radio is in use. A full-time manager and FBO is on staff providing fuel service, maintenance and repair. Hangar space is available.
• Commercial air service is provided within one hour to the south at Fort Dodge, Iowa, and to the east at Mason City, Iowa. Connecting flights are offered to Minneapolis through Northwest Airlink.

Utilities

Five municipal utilities and two rural electric cooperatives are advantageous to Kossuth County residents. Publicly-owned electric service providers offer rates often below those of a private utility and offer local service for repairs with quick response times. Algona, Bancroft, Swea City, West Bend and Whittemore operate municipal utilities with service territories extending beyond city limits. Both Algona and Bancroft have generation facilities capable of providing full power service to customers at any time. Other providers include Humboldt County REC, Iowa Lakes REC, Alliant Energy, and Heartland Telecommunications Company. Gas service is provided by Mid American Energy.

Communications

Rural living in Kossuth County means that you are well-connected to the world. Each community has a fiber optics line available for telephone communications, local dial-up connections for Internet access and T1 line capabilities with the following formats available in a limited number of locations:

Hybrid Fiber Coax/Fiber — Algona Municipal Utilities operates a telecommunications utility with fiber optic and high bred fiber optic cable lines extending to all homes and businesses within Algona and its surrounding residential areas. The utility provides digital cable service, telephone, and high-speed Internet (870 MHz bandwidth).

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) — Algona, Bancroft, and West Bend offer connectivity with data-rates from 192 Kbps — 2.3 Mbps.

Wireless — Connections available in the Algona area.

Virtual Private Networking (VPN) — Several local firms offer VPN software and technical support.

Iowa Communications Network (ICN) — Local school districts and Iowa Lakes Community College provide video conferencing and tele-commuting course work.

Tier 2 Connection — Kossuth County is the only Tier 2 Internet provider in northwest Iowa.