SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The South Veterans Parkway project is one that will, once complete, connect Interstate 29 in southwestern Sioux Falls with Interstate 90 in northeastern Sioux Falls by connecting with North Veterans Parkway, which currently runs along the east side of the city along Highway 11.
Mike Heiberger, principle engineer for the City of Sioux Falls, says the project is broken into four phases.
The first of those four was a stretch of road from Western Avenue to Cliff Avenue, and that part of South Veterans is currently open to traffic.
The second phase runs from Cliff to Sycamore Avenue, and Heiberger says it is set to wrap up in the fall of 2026 — a two-year construction schedule.
“We opted to start in the middle because that’s where we had the most right-a-way secured,” said Heiberger, explaining the choice to complete the middle two sections before connecting the entire route to I-29 and Veterans Parkway.
The project as a whole is a large one. “Each project is somewhere between $40-50 million,” Heiberger said of the four phases.
Right now, the view of phase two is a dusty one.
“If you go out there, you’ll see a lot of construction scrapers. So that’s large, heavy, dirt-moving equipment,” said Heiberger. “We’ve got 1,000,000yd³ of dirt to haul in this project, which is a lot.”
Once all the dirt is in place, Heiberger says they may be able to get a gravel surface on it in 2025, but they like to let the dirt go through a freeze/thaw cycle through the winter before adding the final surface concrete.
There is a lot of excitement about the project around town, said Heiberger.
“It’ll be a nice connection to tie to our arterial street network,” he said.
While only one section of South Veterans is currently open to traffic, Heiberger said as each additional stage gets completed, the more connected the city will become.
With an overall project cost of more than $200 million for the South Veterans Parkway project, Heiberger noted that much of that money is staying in the region, with the primary contractor being John Riley Construction out of Morris, Minnesota, and many of the subcontractors being from South Dakota.
“It’s spurred our local economy and our local contractors, and overall we’re pleased with how things are progressing,” Heiberger said.
