Air, Rail and Transit



Rural and Urban Transit Providers

-Aberdeen Ride Line | 605-626-3333 |Serves Aberdeen and Brown County; as requested in-country and smaller communities within 2.5 miles of Aberdeen City limits

-Brandon City Transit | 605-256-6518 | Serves City of Brandon

-Brookings Area Transit Authority 605-692-5416 | Serves Brookings, Aurora, Volga, Sinai, Bruce, Bushnell, White, Esteline, Elkton, Arlington, and Brookings and Hutchingson counties

-Community Transit of Watertown| Sisseton|605-882-5287 | 605-698-7511 | 605-397-8661 | 605-472-1552 | Serves Watertown, Sisseton, Webster, Redfield, Groton, Milbank, Britton, Lennox, Faulkton, and Grant, Roberts, Faulk, Campbell, McPherson, Edmunds, Codington, Spink, and part of Brown counties

East Dakota Transit | 605-256-6518 | Serves Madison and Lake County

-Palace Transit | 605-995-8440 | Serves Mitchell and Davison County; service in the country and smaller communities is provided upon request

-People's Transit | 605-353-0100 | Serves Beadle county

 -Prairie Hills Transit | 605-642-6613 | Serves Lawrence, Meade, Custer, Fall River, Butte Communities, and Pennington County, as well as Lemmon and limited service for Bison and Faith

-Rapid Transit System 605-394-6631 | Serves Rapid City

-River Cities Public Transit | 605-945-3166 | Serves Hughes, Stanley, Hand, Hyde, Dewey, Ziebach, Haakon, East Pennington, Jones, Lyman, and northern Jackson counties and the surrounding area

 -Rural Office of Community Services 605-487-7635 | Serves Beresford, Canton, Wessington Springs, Tripp, Winner, and Aurora, Bon Homme, Brule, Charles Mix, Gregory, Jerald, McCook, and Turner counties

-Sioux Area Metro | 605-367-7151 | Serves Sioux Falls

 -Standing Rock Transportation | 701-854-8090 | Serves Corson and Walworth Counties in South Dakota and Sioux, Morton, and Burleigh Counties in North Dakota

Vermillion Public Transit | 605-624-7433 | Serves Vermillion, Burbank, Meckling, and the surrounding area

-Yankton Transit | 605-668-4610 | Serves the City of Yankton and Yankton County

*Most providers do out-of-town trips to larger communities.


South Dakota Public Transit Ridership


Unaudited numbers
Source: SDDOT Transit Stat Book and FY21 Ridership report.


2021 Federal, State, Local Transit Funds



There was no State funding awarded for FY2021 due to the timing of grants.
Local Funding is also lower due to no local match required for CARES Act funding.

Source: Office of Public Transit, FFY 2021 NTD data.


Federal Transit Administration Bus and Low- and No-Emission Grant Awards

Summary of most recent discretionary grants received by SDDOT for public transit. The discretionary awards allows additional projects to be awarded using funds other than the formula funds for South Dakota.

The amount awarded below is the federal amount.

FFY 2017 -  $1,874,400 Award for vehicles (BATA, Palace Transit, RCPT, Watertown Transit, Vermillion Transit, Community Transit, PHT, and People’s Transit)

FFY 2018 - $910,000 Award for 3 facility projects ( RCPT- Call Center Remodel, Yankton Facility Expansion and Highmore Facility Construction)

FFY 2018 - $80,000 Award for equipment (RCPT & PHT Skid Steers)

FFY 2019 - $68,402 Award for Expansion and setup Call Center – CTWSI

FFY 2020 - $1,636,000 Award for vehicles (ARL, BATA, East Dakota Transit, Palace Transit, People’s Transit, PHT, RCPT, and Yankton Transit)

FFY 2022 - $1,067,774 Award for Propane vehicles, conversion & feeling station installation (RCPT, CTWSI, PHT, and ROCS)

FFY 2022 - $672,000 Award for facility (PHT – Rapid City Facility Construction)

Total federal award: $6,308,576

13 Subrecipients benefited





Aviation Adds $907 Million to S.D. Economy

 

Source: South Dakota State Aviation System Plan 2020.


2021 Airport Improvement Funding in S.D.

South Dakota received $64 million in Federal Funding. Due to COVID, there were no required State or Local match.

The funding received was used for Airport Improvements and COVID relief operations.

Source: Office of Aeronautics, FFY 2021 data.




The South Dakota Rail System

Of South Dakota’s 1,965 miles of operating railroad tracks:

• BNSF Railway owns about half, or 900 miles;

• The Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad owns 578 miles, about a third;

• The state owns 147 operating miles (27 more are inactive), leased to various railroads; and,

• Short-line and other railroad operators own the remainder.


 

The Federal Railroad Administration, part of the U.S. Department of
Transportation regulates rail service in the United States, not individual states.

 

The Surface Transportation Board, an independent agency, is responsible for
resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers.
 



South Dakota State Rail Plan

The 2014 State Rail Plan has Twenty-four recommended rail improvement projects directly benefiting East River shippers. Six projects would directly benefit West River shippers. Completion of East River projects also would ensure access for West River shippers to a Class 1 freight rail lines. Active projects are highlighted in blue type. Completed projects are in black boldface type. The State is currently working on the 2022 State Rail Plan. Please visit the site SDDOT State Rail Plan & Investment Guide (southdakotasrp.com).

Efficiency/chokepoint projects

1. Wolsey interchange $1,750,000

2. Napa-Platte interchange $1,750,000

3. Mitchell-Rapid City (MRC) passing siding $1,750,000

4. MRC—reconstruct wye in Chamberlain $650,000

5. Sioux Valley subdivision meet-and- $1,750,000 pass siding

6. Sioux City interchange $3,500,000

7. MRC northbound BNSF connection $8,200,000

8. RCPE railyard near Huron $16,000,000

9. RCPE siding near Huron $1,334,567

10. RCPE siding near Aurora $916,984

11. Mankato, Minn., wye $2,000,000

Operator

Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad (RCPE)

Dakota Southern Railway

Dakota Southern Railway

Dakota Southern Railway

Dakota and Iowa Railroad pass siding

Multiple railroads

Dakota Southern Railway

RCPE

RCPE

RCPE

RCPE

Owner

State

State

State

State

State

Mult.

State

RCPE

RCPE

RCPE

RCPE

Bridge Capacity Projects

12. Napa to Platte mainline $2,500,000 repair/replacement

13. Huron to Yale bridge upgrade $2,000,000

14. Sioux Valley bridge rehabilitation $6,000,925

Operator

Dakota Southern Railway

RCPE

Dakota and Iowa Railroad

Owner

State

State

State

Track Condition Projects

15. Britton line rail relay, wye and switch $7,311,047

16. MRC west of Chamberlain, Phase 2 $36,539,801

17. Sioux Valley relocation $6,639,917

18. Sisseton Milbank Railroad $23,000,000 reconstruction

19. Napa to Platte mainline reconstruction $25,000,000

20. Redfield to Mansfield line upgrade $14,500,000

21. Huron to Yale line upgrade $6,000,000

22. Sioux Valley subdivision rail upgrade $6,000,000

23. Pierre to Rapid City track upgrade $105,000,000

24. Rapid City to Dakota junction track $40,000,000 upgrade

Operator

Dakota, Missouri Valley and Western Railroad

Dakota Southern Railway

Dakota and Iowa Railroad

Sisseton Milbank Railroad (SMRR)

Dakota Southern Railway

RCPE

RCPE

Dakota and Iowa Railroad

RCPE

RCPE

Owner

State

State

State

SMRR

State

RCPE

State

State

RCPE

RCPE

Safety Condition Projects

25. Brookings, 22nd Street grade crossing $500,000

Operator

RCPE

Owner

RCPE

Industrial park development projects

26. Intermodal yard at Sherman $75,000,000

27. Belle Fourche transloading facility $6,000,000

28. D&I Railroad Mainline Rail Replacement & CrossingImprovement $4,990,948.00.

29. Ellis & Eastern RR Rehabilitation of three Bridges $4,899,400.

30. Ringneck & Western RR build sidings to a locomotive repair shop $2,998,348.39.

Operator

BNSF Railway

RCPE

D&I

Ellis & Eastern

Ringneck & Western

Owner

BNSF

RCPE

D&I

Ellis & Eastern

Ringneck & Western





Interested in more?

Check out the 2022 Customer Satisfaction Survey Results:https://dot.sd.gov/inside-sddot/forms-publications/reports

This publication was prepared by:

South Dakota Department of Transportation
Division of Finance and Management
Becker-Hansen Building
700 E. Broadway Ave.
Pierre, SD 57501-2586
(605) 773-3265

The South Dakota Department of Transportation provides services without regard to race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age or disability, according to the provisions contained in SDCL 20-13, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, 1994. Anyone with questions concerning this policy or who believes he or she has been discriminated against should contact the SDDOT Civil Rights Office at (605) 773-3540.
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