Construction Crews Tackle Slough Challenges For New Highway

Construction of the New Veterans Highway in Sioux Falls Continues

One of the transmitter sites of our radio stations platform is near the 'build' of the new South Veterans Highway on the Southeast side of Sioux Falls. I was curious, so I took a drive out to see what was going on. I had to come in from the south to get to the construction site, and I wasn’t disappointed.

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The area where they’re building the final section of South Veterans Highway has its challenges. First and foremost, it cuts right through a slough. This slough isn’t new to us who work at the radio station—it’s a spot that collects runoff water after heavy rains on the southeast side of Sioux Falls. It’s also a home for wildlife like ducks and geese. Right now, the north end of the slough is where the new highway is being built. It will eventually connect to Highway 11 and complete the project.

Earlier this year, a crew came out with a large backhoe. They dug a channel to partially drain the slough from north to south. A berm was built to separate the water, and they installed a pump to move it southeast. The setup worked smoothly.

After that, they let nature take over for a while to help dry the area out. Then, on Friday, the real action began.

The backhoe was back in action. The operator used timbers under the machine to keep it from sinking into the soft, silty ground and started loading up dump trucks. Those trucks hauled the silt west, where it’s being reused for the road being built toward Sycamore Avenue. At the same time, graders brought in dry dirt from higher ground on the site and dumped it where the silt had been removed. A bulldozer then pushed that dry dirt into the emptied area.

The activities looked like a colony of ants working!

If you’ve ever watched a colony of ants working together, it looked a lot like that. It was a well-planned and carefully executed process—machines and people working together in a kind of modern dance.

We stood and watched for a while. Usually, we just drive on roads without thinking about how they got there. But they don’t just appear out of nowhere. Every road takes planning, people, and a lot of horsepower.

The whole project reminded me of the I-90 build across South Dakota when I was growing up. That was a massive project with heavy machinery, and I haven’t seen something this well-coordinated in a long time. It was impressive.

Soon, Veterans Highway will be complete. This will be a big win for the people of Sioux Falls and nearby communities, making commuting faster in a city that’s growing by around 10,000 people every year.

The orange barrels are out, the workers are moving, and the race against another South Dakota winter is on. The finished Veterans Highway—connecting I-29 and I-90—is coming soon!

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