Closed for Reconstruction: South Dakota Highway 19

It's another project that will have a big impact on traffic in eastern South Dakota for the next seven months.

The state Department of Transportation says beginning Friday, May 2, South Dakota Highway 19 will be closed from SD 38 at Humboldt to two miles south of SD 34 near Madison. That's a 21-mile stretch from Humboldt to 237th Street, or Walkers Point.

The DOT says the work on Highway 19 will involve grading, resurfacing, drainage improvements, shoulder widening and improvement of site distances.

Local traffic will be allowed and through traffic will be detoured by way of Highway 81.

A second phase, that gets going after Labor Day, will mean the closing of two-and-a-half miles of SD 19 from Walkers Point to SD 34.

The DOT says the prime contractor for the $14.6 million project is Loiseau Construction of Flandreau, and Highway 19 will be fully opened to traffic on November 26 of this year.