News Stories

New bridge's date a tentative summer 2024 - Capital Journal 01/10/2023

January 11, 2023
The new Lt. Cmdr. John C. Waldron Memorial Bridge over the Missouri River is slowly but surely coming together. Upcoming work this winter will include pile driving for the Fort Pierre-side abutment and erecting the structural steel girders. “Concrete placing for the capitals at bent four is scheduled for later this week. The next items to be constructed will be the capitals at bent three and the caps at bents four and three,” according to the most recent bridge newsletter. “Due to winter we...

DOT: Storm made many roads impassable in southeast SD - Keloland 1/3/2022

January 04, 2023
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Tuesday’s massive winter storm has meant significant problems for any kind of travel on many roads. “I know the calls I’ve been on this morning, we’ve had multiple snow plow trucks get stuck themselves out there,” said Craig Smith, director of operations with the South Dakota Department of Transportation.Watch or read the full story here

How does the DOT decide to close highways - Keloland 1/3/2022

January 03, 2023
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A portion of I-90 between Chamberlain and Humboldt remains closed Tuesday afternoon, with many other routes across the state designated with differing warnings and conditions. But how does the South Dakota DOT decide when a route should be closed? “We do have a defined process,” said Craig Smith, DOT Director of Operations. “It’s a partnership with the Department of Public Safety, so between the Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation — they make that final...

South Dakota plow drivers rescue 50 people in mid-December snowstorm - Dakota News Now 1/2/2023

January 03, 2023
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) -The plow drivers across the state get behind the wheel to ensure the roads are driveable. Sometimes they go above and beyond. “It’s not our job to rescue, but when we’re called upon, we go and do it,” says Jim Lolley, SD DOT Maintenance Supervisor in Murdo. “To save these people they’ve never met before,” adds Jason Humphrey, SD DOT Pierre Region Engineer. When a mid-December storm swept across the state, the hardest-hit areas needed to close. Lolley says onc...

Weeks of brutal winter weather provide South Dakota plows season's first real test - Mitchell Republic 12/30/2022

January 05, 2023
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The South Dakota Department of Transportation is emerging from its first winter test, a two-week stretch of heavy snow, blinding winds and freezing temperatures that prompted rolling closures on the state’s main arteries and left at times thousands of motorists stalling in blizzard conditions. “Visibility was so severe,” said Mike Carlson, the area engineer in the Rapid City region of the state Department of Transportation. “I hadn’t seen it this severe in 40 years.” One day ...