Sign installed for Senator David J. Tomassoni Memorial Cross Range Expressway

DULUTH, Minn. – Signs are now up recognizing the “Senator David J. Tomassoni Memorial Cross Range Expressway”.

The expressway is Highway 169 between Itasca County Road 69 in Marble and St. Louis County Road 7 in Mountain Iron.

In 2024 the Minnesota State Legislature passed bills to designate the highway sections for the areas Tomassoni served.

He was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1993, and to the State Senate in 2000.

Tomassoni served until months before his death in August 2022.

He passed away about one year after announcing he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

Upon passage of the bill to expand the highway, colleagues in the legislature said it was fitting to name the road after Tomassoni.

He had long pressed to turn the two-lane road into a four-lane road.