After One Month, How’s Sioux Falls Diverging Diamond Going?

Sioux Falls is just a little over one month into the fully completed diverging diamond project on 41st Street and I-29 and the general consensus from organizers and the public one month in seems to be a good one.

The project, a collaborative effort between the South Dakota Department of Transportation and the City of Sioux Falls was designed to improve the lives of residents by reducing the travel time on South Dakota's most heavily trafficked road.

Before the diverging diamond project got underway that area of road in Sioux Falls saw roughly 30,000 vehicles a day.

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Andy Berg, a Sioux Falls City Engineer, told Dakota News Now, “We work with the state regularly on looking at these corridors and interchanges to find the best way to improve those so that we can accommodate future traffic flows going through those areas."

Surprisingly, the Sioux Falls diverging diamond was not the first in the state. South Dakota's original diverging diamond interchange first debuted in Rapid City in July of 2023 on Lacrosse Street at the I-90 exit.

Like the one here in Sioux Falls, the Rapid City diverging diamond helped ease traffic congestion problems on that stretch of road as well.

While the diverging diamond does seem a little odd at first, it's quite simple to navigate once you get the hang of it.

Kirk Henderson, Sioux Falls DOT engineering supervisor told Dakota News Now, “I’ve driven it 10-20 times already since it’s been opened, and it just seems like you flow through there so nice and easy.”

The city has heard similar feedback from residents as well.

Logan Peterson of Sioux Falls told Dakota News Now, “I used to avoid taking the 41st Street exit, and now, I choose to take it because I like to see the diamond and see the route.”

According to Dakota News Now, Sioux Falls has three more diverging diamond projects in its future. One is being constructed at the Interstate 90 interchange in Brandon, as well as the Interstate 29 Benson Road interchange. A diverging diamond is also expected to be constructed at a future 85th Street interchange in the coming years.

The city says all the upcoming diverging diamond projects will have a similar construction timetable as the 41st Street interchange. That project took nearly 2 1/2 years to fully complete.

Source: Dakota News Now