First-Rate Infrastructure
Airports
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was named Best Airport in North America by Airports Council International in 2017 and 2018 in the 25–40 million passenger category. It is the third-largest Delta hub in the country. It carries more than 38 million passengers to 167 direct routes each year, including Canada, Mexico, Central America and Europe.
Airlake Airport near the cities of Lakeville and Farmington is located near one of Minnesota’s largest industrial parks, making it ideally suited for business aviation needs. There were almost 33,000 landings and takeoffs in 2018.
South St. Paul Municipal Airport, also known as Fleming Field, acts as a reliever airport to MSP International.
Rail
Union Pacific’s Spine Line has a railyard in South St. Paul before traveling south through Inver Grove Heights, Rosemount and Farmington and eventually to Kansas City, Mo. A separate Union Pacific line connects the Twin Cities through Eagan and Burnsville to Sioux City, Iowa.
Canadian Pacific’s Soo Line travels through Hastings, along the Mississippi River to La Crosse, Wis.
Progressive Rail in the Airlake Industrial Park (Lakeville) provides transloading services, transferring cargo from rail to truck.
Transportation
Whether you want to move cargo or need your employees to have an easy commute, you can move quickly and safely through Dakota County. Businesses have access to four freeways — Interstate 494, Interstate 35, Interstate 35W and Interstate 35E — as well as US Highway 52 and US Highway 61. It has easy access to not only Minneapolis and St. Paul, but Rochester and southern Minnesota.
Dakota County does its part by maintaining 418 center lane miles of roads — 355 paved and 63 gravel — including 83 bridges, 136 traffic signals and about 25,000 signs.
And the county system is growing. With Dakota County’s population projected to reach more than 510,000 by 2040, it’s imperative we plan for the future of our transportation system. Dakota County has short- and long-term plans in place to make sure we get you there. Find out more about Dakota County’s Transportation Plans.
Transit
To ease congestion on busy roads, Dakota County has four transit stations (Apple Valley, Burnsville and two in Eagan) and 12 different park and ride locations to use METRO Transit.
Commuters can travel easily through seven counties using METRO Transit’s 130 routes.
Dakota County has 12 miles of bus rapid transit along Cedar Avenue — called the METRO Red Line. Plans are also moving forward to expand the METRO Orange Line, a bus rapid transit route along Interstate 35W, making it more convenient and efficient for residents to get to downtown Minneapolis. The Orange Line is scheduled to open in 2021.
METRO Transit keeps your employees moving with special employer programs.
The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority also services the south metro area.
For more information, see the Dakota County Transit page.
Waterways
Dakota County has six river terminals along the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers — three in Rosemount, two in South St. Paul and one in Burnsville. These waterways transport grain, feed, petroleum products, chemicals and more.
Utilities
Minnesota is one of few U.S. states to exempt energy used in the manufacturing process from sales tax.
Electricity used to operate a qualified data center is exempt after the project is certified by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The state also has lower than average natural gas and electricity rates.
Dakota County is serviced by Dakota Electric and Xcel Energy.