South Dakota Highway 13 Reconstruction Project from Moody County 11 to the Minnesota State Line will begin April 5th through approximately September 15th. Traffic will be detoured to Moody County Highway 11, 8C and 17. There will be a short closure on SD Highway 34 to reconstruct the east mile of South Dakota Highway 34 next to the Minnesota Border starting July 7th through September 1st. During this work traffic will be detoured from SD Hwy 34 to Interstate 29, Moody County Highway 14, Pipestone County Highway 2 and Minnesota Hwy 23.
Sam Allen, Trustee IV, Art Schmidt, Buffalo Program Director and Carol Robertson, FSST Economic Development Department had several meetings at Tribal Headquarters with the South Dakota Department of Transportation, General Contractor and state engineers. The SD Department of Transportation and Bowes Construction Company, General Contractor, Brookings, met to discuss temporary fence in borrow area, topsoil depth, borrow price, turnout or overlook capable to hold 3 cars and 2 RV with enough room to turn around, grading, fence work, field entrances, topsoil, relocation of the buffalo herd, re-seeding of grass, commercial property, etc. The Tribe will be reimbursed from the State of South Dakota for expenses incurred moving the buffalo, fencing and re-seeding of grass and other incidentals that may occur with this project adjacent to Tribal owned fee land.
Highway 34 has approximately 20,000 semi-trucks turn in to Dakota Ethanol to deliver and 20,000 trucks exit using Hwy 34 each year. Dakota Ethanol is 8 miles east of Madison. If you lined up bumper to bumper, these 40,000 semi-trucks would stretch from the borders of Minnesota to Wyoming. Since the fall of 2001, Dakota Ethanol has paid individuals over $60,000,000.
When this project is finished, SD Hwy 34 will be a 4 lane from Madison east to I-29. Madison was placed on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Lake County and Moody County Commissions have completed Corridor Preservation on the 14-mile portion of Highway 34, as requested by the Department of Transportation.
Sam Allen, Trustee IV, was appointed a representative to the “Highway 34 Four the Future” Committee, by Tribal President Joshua Weston and the Executive Committee January of 2009. Other Committee members are Chad Comes, John Goeman, Jerry Johnson and Russell Olson.
This summer will be hectic with all the detours and construction, the usual for summer months but Hwy 34 will be much safer and make for better driving when completed. -Editor |
