KELO: Veterans Parkway will change travel in Sioux Falls

https://www.keloland.com/news/eye-on-keloland/veterans-parkway-will-change-travel-in-sioux-falls/

For more than three decades, Veterans Parkway has been part of Sioux Falls’ long-range transportation plans. While drivers can already use portions of the roadway, another major section is nearing completion.

The project is not just about building another road. It is about preparing Sioux Falls for decades of future growth.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the latest 2-mile section of Veterans Parkway between Cliff Avenue and Sycamore Avenue.

“We’ve got all the paving down, we’re doing touch-up work, placing topsoil, getting everything seeded, sealing all the joints in the concrete and putting up the lighting and traffic signals so we can hopefully open this to traffic in November,” Harry Johnston, with the South Dakota Department of Transportation, said.

While it may look like just another construction project, officials say Veterans Parkway has always been much bigger than that. It is designed to become a second major north-south corridor on the east side of Sioux Falls, running parallel to Interstate 229.

“This all started back in the early ’90s from a planning standpoint. Transportation planning takes time. It takes coordination, and it’s a great effort between our partners at the DOT and the City of Sioux Falls,” Sioux Falls Principal Engineer Mike Heiberger said.

When the project was first envisioned, Interstate 229 sat along the edge of Sioux Falls. Today, neighborhoods, businesses, and schools surround it.

Veterans Parkway is being built farther east, where city leaders expect Sioux Falls to continue growing for years to come.

“What they identified was trying to get a corridor that parallels 229. That’s what we’re going to have,” Heiberger said. “Running around the periphery of our city as it sits today.”

A project of this size is a partnership between the city of Sioux Falls and the state of South Dakota, requiring extensive cooperation and coordination. The state oversees construction using federal transportation dollars, and once the project is complete, the city assumes responsibility for maintaining the roadway.

That partnership requires years of planning. Utilities have to be relocated, and city streets have to line up. Intersections, traffic signals, and future development all have to fit together before the first car ever drives down the road.

“There’s a lot of collaboration between the city and the state. We’re working with them, making sure utilities tie in, streets tie in, everything functions, and at the end of the project, the city will actually take over the roadway,” Johnston said.

The finished roadway will feature six lanes of traffic and a 50-mph speed limit. Unlike an interstate, Veterans Parkway is designed as a limited-access corridor with fewer intersections, allowing traffic to move efficiently while still serving nearby neighborhoods and businesses.

“I-229 is busy. We get to the rush hours in the morning and at night, and it can get congested. This should help relieve some of that stress while helping accommodate the growth of our city,” Heiberger said.

The current section is expected to open this fall. Construction on the next phase, from Sycamore Avenue north to 57th Street, is expected to begin next year. The final western connection from Veterans Parkway to Interstate 29 is expected to follow.

When all phases are complete, Veterans Parkway will stretch more than 16 miles across Sioux Falls.

“It’ll be a huge impact to the city … another way to connect Interstate 29 over to Interstate 90. When it’s finally complete, there will be six lanes of traffic that’ll essentially go from the Tea interchange all the way to Exit 402 on the east side of Sioux Falls,” Johnston said.

A project first envisioned more than 30 years ago is finally taking shape. As Sioux Falls continues to expand, city and state leaders believe Veterans Parkway will become one of the community’s most important transportation corridors for generations.

Veterans Parkway is also being designed with pedestrians and bicyclists in mind. A shared-use asphalt path will run along the entire corridor when the project is complete. Major intersections will include box culverts that allow pedestrians and bicyclists to travel beneath busy roadways without crossing traffic.