March 25, 2021

With development occurring on every side of Sioux Falls, the city is attempting to bolster its funding for the roads to support that growth.

Some help is coming in the form of federal funding  to support COVID-19 needs.

Because the city could use COVID-relief money to take care of expenses that otherwise would have required city dollars, there was excess funding left at the end of 2020.

So the City Council is being asked to consider a $10.7 million package of projects.

Of that, $4 million would be added to the pool of funding for arterial street expansion. That’s in addition to about $7 million already allocated for 2021.

“It allows for us to at least initiate design and start capturing right of way, so we’re building with development,” said Mark Cotter, the city’s director of public works. “Having sewer-ability on the east side, southeast, west and northwest really pushes our program.”

These are multiyear road projects, but the added funding will allow them to move forward with various elements of design, right-of-way acquisition and construction, he added.

Here’s a look at where the city anticipates expanding roads in the next several years.

East 57th Street from Veterans Parkway to Six Mile Road

There’s “a lot of activity out there,” Cotter said of East 57th Street east of Veterans Parkway.

“This year, we’d like to do a grading project to get all the dirt in the right spot and do utilities and next year come forward with a surfacing package.”

It’s a two-lane gravel road now, but the plan is to make it a five-lane urban road eventually.

“And that will be nice timing to build with development,” Cotter said. “We want to get this area squared off between 57th and 26th, and then you can envision Six Mile Road to have a big rectangular box with arterial streets to support all that growth.”

South Cliff Avenue from 85th Street a half-mile south 

The Harrisburg School District envisions both a Freshman Academy and high school in the area of 85th Street and Cliff Avenue in the next six years.

The road expansion “is an important commuter route between Sioux Falls and Harrisburg and for people who live south of Harrisburg and in northwest Iowa,” Cotter said. “Continuing to make that investment and build out South Cliff Avenue will pay dividends and get us ready for the Harrisburg school.”

Construction could start next year, he said.

Various arterial streets that intersect Veterans Parkway

With the state of South Dakota committing $176 million to complete Veterans Parkway, the city is obligated to fund about $33 million in related road projects.

“Our commitment is to fund the intersecting arterial streets, so we wanted to put this out there,” Cotter said. “The first project is anticipated in 2023.”

Area around 85th Street and Interstate 29

A future Interstate 29 interchange is still on track at 85th Street, “and even absent of that, there’s a lot of development happening in the area,” Cotter said.

“So that ultimately will go to construction to continue to build out Tallgrass down to 85th. … There’s a chance we’ll do a (bid) letting late in the year, but we’re still working on right of way.”

North Marion Road serving Foundation Park

Given the pace of activity at Foundation Park, the city is starting to design Marion Road to extend about a mile north to 258th Street, which runs from Renner to Crooks.

“And one of the components we’re looking at is a rail line that bisects Foundation Park and crosses Marion Road, so additional funding will help us build a bridge over that railroad as opposed to an at-grade crossing,” Cotter said. “We’re still evaluating that, but it would take it from a normal arterial to a little more involvement.”

Minnesota Avenue

The city needs to reconstruct Minnesota Avenue ultimately from Russell to 18th streets.

The hope is to do the first segment next year, which would be from about Bennett to Second streets, Cotter said.

In addition to funding projects with dollars freed up because of COVID-related funding, the city used $25.2 million to pay off sales tax-backed debt.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on the funding in April.

Other projects included in the funding package will be investments in parks, including:

• Design for the next segment of the River Greenway, alongside the planned redevelopment at the Sioux Steel site, for $1 million.
• Contribution toward the new Africa exhibit at the Great Plains Zoo, which includes lions and is largely planned to be privately funded, for $1.4 million.
• Contribution toward development at Falls Park West that would create Jacobson Plaza and bring a refrigerated skating loop and inclusive playground, for $2 million.
• Contribution toward Hayward Park master plan improvements including a spray park, for $2.25 million.

That still leaves $11.3 million in available funding for future projects, which could grow given the recently approved American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.