SDDOT road work ahead

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VOLGA – Although there aren’t any projects on the scale of the multi-year, multi-phase Sixth Street upgrades this year, the South Dakota Department of Transportation has plenty of smaller projects happening in and around the Brookings County region.

Quite a few projects center around Volga and U.S. Highway 14.

Anyone traveling along Highway 14 will have noticed a stoplight going up at Highway 14 and Caspian Avenue. Although not yet functional, Volga’s first stoplight will soon be done and operational, said John Rittershaus, an engineer for SDDOT.

Contractors began work on this project, which costs $362,000, at the end of April.

The stoplight is being installed due to the difficulty trucks from South Dakota Soybean Processors have in turning onto the highway.

“You’ve got a lot of truck traffic coming out there and trying to make left turns. During peak times, it was very difficult for them to get out. Also, you’ve got the close proximity of the railroad tracks to that intersection, so you could have vehicles that were backed up over the railroad tracks,” Rittershaus said.

There will be detectors put in so that when a vehicle pulls up to the intersection, the stoplight will be able to adjust accordingly.

To address that safety concern, cross arms were put in at that railroad crossing, and they’ll be connected and responsive to the stoplight’s signals. Additionally, the new corresponding pavement markings have yet to be done at that spot, and flashing warning lights to will be installed ahead of the stoplight to alert motorists on the highway when the light is about to change.

Volga will get its sidewalk curb ramps along Highway 14 upgraded in curb ramp project that also includes De Smet, Arlington and Lake Preston.

West of Volga, the railroad crossing at Highway 14 will see its share of improvements at a cost of $300,000. This project includes some surfacing and upgrades to the signals themselves.

Separately, preemptive warning lights will also be installed ahead of that railroad crossing on Highway 14 just east of Volga, costing $26,000.

Bridges on Highway 14 between Brookings and Volga are having approach slabs – slabs that provide a transition from the roadway to the bridge – replaced, and the concrete pavement is being repaired and resealed along that same stretch.

At the moment, this work is being limited to the eastbound lanes. Because they are only able to work on half the road at a time in order to allow traffic to use the other lane, this project is expected to continue into the fall, according to Rittershaus, and cost $2.1 million.

The Highway 14 Bypass will see its share of improvements and upgrades, too.

Signs along Highway 14 that show wear and tear will be replaced at a cost totaling $400,000. That project includes just about all signs, from location signs indicating how far away another town is to stop signs.

“Basically, they go through and replace any of the signs that are faded or aged out” or damaged, Rittershaus said.

At the corner of 34th Avenue and the Highway 14 Bypass in Brookings, SDDOT is working on a radius improvement for eastbound traffic turning south. This project will cost about $60,000.

“Some of those trucks, you can see they’re kind of cutting that corner there. We’ll widen that out to help with trucks’ turning movements there,” Rittershaus said.

All of the bypass will be chip-sealed with an asphalt surface treatment and given a fog seal.

Although $3.1 million is budgeted for this project, this isn’t the only part of that project. The bypass alone would account for about a third of the total project cost.

“We’ve got a bunch of other segments to get done along with that, so cost is not going to be just for that particular road. I think, like, say, on that surface treatment, we’re doing a bunch of shoulders on I-29, we’re doing Highway 10, Highway 15, also,” Rittershaus said.

And although it’s a project continued from last year, the work on Sixth Street from 20th Avenue to 34th Avenue through Brookings will wrap up this year. The major work remaining is a pair of service roads, expected to be done in about two weeks. All the pavement markings along that stretch will be done in special tape made for that kind of thing; that should be finished in about two weeks’ time.

“They got groove the concrete so that the tape is inset and the snowplows don’t catch it and tear it off,” Rittershaus said.

Otherwise, there’s work on sidewalks along that stretch of road, dirt work, some landscaping and minor repair work: “Just miscellaneous things that are on our punch list.”

And although there will be a brief respite from roadwork on Sixth Street, more work from Medary Avenue to Main Avenue is planned for 2020.

“Then Sixth Street will have been done from one end to the other,” he said. “Shouldn’t have any more major work on Sixth Street for quite some time after that, so everyone can breathe a little sigh of relief.”

Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.

Register photos: Above, a truck that just left the South Dakota Soybean Processors plant in Volga enters U.S. Highway 14 at its intersection with Caspian Avenue. Below, a new stoplight is going up at that location, with workers still doing some finishing touches.