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Top of the Line: Gunnar Electric Inc. works on Minnesota’s Green Line light rail extension project

By Susan Bloom | Feb 15, 2023
Metro train running through a city
Started in 2010 and officially opened to the public in 2014, Minnesota’s popular 11-mile METRO Green Line light rail system connects the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to a variety of locations in between and transports more than 10 million passengers to their workplaces, homes and recreational destinations every year.

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Started in 2010 and officially opened to the public in 2014, Minnesota’s popular 11-mile METRO Green Line light rail system connects the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to a variety of locations in between and transports more than 10 million passengers to their workplaces, homes and recreational destinations every year.

In a new phase designed to position the light rail as more of a “community builder” than just a train, the METRO Transit system has begun its 14.5-mile “Green Line Extension.” This highly publicized project will add stops in Minneapolis and its suburbs, connecting the Hennepin County cities of St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie for the first time. According to Minnesota’s Metropolitan Council—the regional body that oversees the METRO Transit system—the 16 new stations to be constructed on the Green Line Extension will provide “a one-seat ride to job centers, cultural features and each neighborhood along its tracks.”

As an approved electrical contractor on METRO Transit system projects for over a decade, the team from Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Gunnar Electric Inc. has been involved in the Green Line Extension for more than five years, supporting its electrical infrastructure needs. The extension, once complete, will usher in an exciting new day and level of connectivity for Minnesota residents for generations to come.

All aboard!

Founded in 1969, Gunnar Electric now has over 40 employees. 

“The firm was originally founded by Clay Gunnarson, and my father worked for Clay as a superintendent,” said Laura Karow, president of Gunnar Electric. “When Clay passed away in 1985, my dad continued on as a superintendent in the field while my mom bought the company, and I, my brother Terry [Walters] and our sisters have all worked here in different capacities over the years.”

Karow and her brother graduated from trade school in 2000, completed their apprenticeships and secured their journeyman’s licenses in 2004. Karow went on to secure her master’s license and worked in Gunnar Electric’s office as an estimator, project manager and safety director, while her brother became a superintendent. 

“My father retired in 2009, my mother retired in 2014, and Terry and I bought the company that year,” she said. “Today, I serve as president and oversee estimating, project management, accounting and other back-office functions, while my brother serves as vice president and is responsible for managing our field operations, fleets and service department.”

Classified as a “disadvantaged business enterprise,” or DBE (defined as being at least 51% woman- or minority-owned), “Gunnar Electric primarily works in Minnesota’s Twin City/metro area and does everything from baggage system projects at the airport to light rail work, substations, commercial interior work, outdoor sports lighting and stadium projects, residential service and more,” Karow said.

According to Douglas Nystrom, one of the company’s estimators/project managers, Gunnar Electric has a long history with the state’s Green Line (formerly called the Central Corridor).

“We first began working on the Green Line a decade ago as they were looking for targeted vendors to participate in its initial construction,” Nystrom said. “At that time, we worked with a couple of other contractors to provide traction power, which powers the trains, and performed electrical work at a new passenger station between Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

As the Green Line Extension began ramping up several years ago, Nystrom said, “prime contractors bidding on the work reached out to us for our support and expertise as an approved vendor and we first began putting pencil to paper on this project in 2017.”

Since then, “we currently have two contracts for the Green Line Extension, both awarded in 2019,” he said. “One contract is for what’s known as the ‘Civil Project,’ which involves the installation of track, train stations and the infrastructure that goes with it, such as bridges, rerouted roads, passenger stations and parking lots. 

“The other contract is for the ‘Systems Project,’ which involves the installation of traction power and wiring for all communications and other vital systems required to operate the trains,” he said.

Nystrom said that Gunnar Electric officially began work on the Civil Project in 2020. Now at the halfway mark of that activity, “we’re a subcontractor on that project and are running a crew of anywhere from two to six people on the job,” he said. 

Overhead shot of a metro construction site

A new METRO Transit System light rail station. Gunnar Electric has two contracts for the Green Line Extension.
McGhiever / Gunnar Electric Inc.

“Of the 16 new facilities being constructed as part of the extension, Champlin, Minn.-based prime contractor Egan Co. gave us work at the 13 sites that represent new passenger stations. The Egan team is handling everything underground. Once there’s a slab in place, we’re then handed the station and are tasked with completing all of the aboveground electrical work, which includes running conduit, installing wiring, purchasing and installing lighting, gear, heaters and more.”

“The Civil Project is still ongoing,” Nystrom said. “Construction of five of the new stations—Eden Prairie Town Center, Golden Triangle, City West, Downtown Hopkins and Opus—has been completed, with the rest still in progress.”

On the Systems Project, “a lot of the work, such as installing infrastructure and getting sites ready for substations, can only be started once the work on the Civil Project is complete,” Nystrom said. “Activities like site preparation and the installation of foundations and duct banks are currently underway.”

Project coordination

On such a high-profile state project with a large, complex scope of work, Nystrom and Karow agree that they have learned more than a few lessons along the way.

For example, Gunnar Electric relied on close communication and flexibility to schedule its workforce in the face of changes to project planning and the overall project schedule.

“We expected to be working on multiple stations at a time and planned to have 15–20 electricians on the job,” Karow said. “These buildings are all made of tube steel and glass panels and most of the wiring needs to be fished inside tube steel structures, so keeping the same crews on the work is the best way to do it. In light of the schedule changes we experienced, we worked hard to shift crews around, sometimes to other jobs when needed, while still maintaining the diversity requirements for our workforce.”

Karow noted that supply chain issues over the past two years have been difficult. 

“Some of the material we need was purchased ahead of time and is in storage, but other common items, like certain types of boxes or fittings, weren’t available and are now back-ordered,” she said.

“Material cost escalation has also been an issue,” Nystrom said, “and we wonder how much more it will cost us to do the work, since some materials continue to fluctuate in price.”

Karow said the team has dealt with product availability issues and cost increases by addressing them proactively, including procuring materials early in the process to meet the project’s “Buy America” requirement.

“We have a small warehouse and usually request just-in-time delivery, but we’re now purchasing materials at the beginning of the job to ensure that we have what we need at the best price,” Karow said. “Our warehouse is currently bursting at the seams, and we also have two additional trailers packed with stuff.”

“Thankfully, the prime contractor for the Systems Project, Aldridge Parsons, has a warehouse near the project, and we’re coordinating with them to use it (where needed) to help ensure that materials are right in town and ready to be installed,” Nystrom said.

Worker  in a cherry picker installing lights underneath a platform

A Gunnar Electric team member prepares the electrical infrastructure at one of the new passenger station stops.
Gunnar Electric Inc.

A testament to teamwork

“We’re very fortunate in the partnerships we have and we wouldn’t be on these projects if it wasn’t for the support of outstanding players like Egan Co. and Aldridge Parsons/Aldridge Electric,” Karow said. “As a small contractor, having the strength of those larger partners behind us is crucial, especially in light of challenges like cost escalation and material delays.”

“There’s mentoring going on, too,” Karow said. “The team at Aldridge Electric [and]the lead contractor of the Aldridge Parsons Joint Venture [comprised of Libertyville, Ill.-based Aldridge Electric and Centreville, Va.-based Parsons Corp.], [have] taken us under their wing, both on this project and in the broader area of workforce diversity by running a national safety event. This event, a safety and electrical information day at Summit Academy in downtown Minneapolis, provided important training to minority and underutilized workers. Being able to be part of something like that was great, as we never would have been able to facilitate a program of that scale by ourselves.”

“Our electricians are craftspeople who are very proud of the work they do, and as a DBE, it’s great to have the opportunity to participate in these large projects because they’re not necessarily something we’d be involved in otherwise,” Nystrom said. “We’ve played a key role in the construction of the entire Green Line and in other construction activities at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, and U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings, and it’s fun to be a part of these unique and interesting projects.”

“Working hand-in-hand with larger contractors on these big projects has helped us to enhance our processes and capabilities tremendously,” Karow said, who has commuted through the very Green Line stations that Gunnar Electric helped construct. “The things we’ve learned through these projects and the relationships we’ve forged have been truly amazing for the growth, success and future of our company.”

 

Header image: The Stadium Village station in Minneapolis, which Gunnar Electric worked on during construction of the METRO Transit System’s original Green Line a decade ago
MCGHIEVER / GUNNAR ELECTRIC INC.

About The Author

BLOOM is a 25-year veteran of the lighting and electrical products industry. Reach her at [email protected].

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