Decades in the making, new interchange begins construction this week - Sioux Falls.Business

A new interstate interchange so long in the making that even those most intricately involved can’t remember exactly when the concept began officially breaks ground this week.

The interchange at 85th Street and Interstate 29 will be the first new interchange in Sioux Falls since the one at Marion Road and Interstate 90 opened in 2010 — and the vision for it began even before that.

The official kickoff for the new diverging diamond-style interchange is at 2 p.m. Tuesday. “I have been looking forward to this groundbreaking since the day I took office,” said Mayor Paul TenHaken, who won his first mayoral election in 2018.

“A collaboration like this takes time, but the transformational result of this project is well worth it. I can’t say enough about the partners involved in this effort that helped make it a reality.”

The interchange is unique, if not unprecedented nationwide, in that private landowners advanced millions of dollars to move the project to a point where federal approval for construction and subsequent appropriations could be gained.

“There have been partners who have stuck together over 10 years to get to this point,” said Mark Cotter, Sioux Falls Public Works director.

“It’s remarkable a group of owners could stick together that long.”

Led by Commissioner Jim Schmidt, Lincoln County kicked off the effort, Cotter added.

“He was bold to be the first one to say ‘we’ll put up the first $15 million,’ and he figured it out and put a TIF in place at the county level,” Cotter said.

A $30 million congressional directed-spending appropriation and a $4 million contribution from landowners with property in the area rounded out most of the funding. The $54 million project was bid within $400,000 of its estimate recently by Sioux Falls-based T&R Contracting Inc., which also is working on the Cliff Avenue and Interstate 229 project as well as the east-side intersection of Arrowhead and Veterans parkways and the next two miles of South Veterans Parkway between Cliff and Sycamore avenues.

“The state will have some contribution, and our role so far has been to be the facilitator. We bought all the right of way, and we’re going to put forward the (required) match, so all-in we’re at about $11 million so far,” Cotter said. “We’ve (also) been building out the (surrounding) arterial streets for the last 10 years. It’s significant — probably north of $25 million.”

The city of Sioux Falls also split the cost of a project with the city of Tea on Sundowner Avenue close to where Orthopedic Institute opened its new medical center.

“So the last link to build is this new, modern, very transformational interchange,” Cotter said. “This is not normal. The last new interchange the city of Sioux Falls built … was over 15 years ago, and so when you’re driving right now between the Tea exit you can’t get off the interstate until you get to 41st Street, so the demand to distribute the traffic and build a new, modern interchange here is critical to support all the growth and development.”

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