Sioux Falls Invests $65.1 Million in Major Roadway Improvements

The city of Sioux Falls has budgeted $65.1 million for highways and streets this year, Dakota News Now reported, a spending plan that has put construction crews to work at major intersections and on neighborhood blocks alike across 2026.

The money is doing four kinds of work at once: preserving existing pavement, rehabilitating worn roads, expanding capacity on growing corridors, and rebuilding sections outright. For drivers, that has meant a year of detours, lane shifts, and freshly paved streets — and for the city, a deliberate attempt to keep pace with a transportation network that keeps growing.

A Program Built on Preservation and Growth

Brad Ludens, principal engineer for the city of Sioux Falls, described the street construction program as a blend of maintenance and expansion.

Sioux Falls Invests $65.1 Million in Major Roadway Improvements

“Our street construction program focuses on a combination of preservation, rehabilitation, expansion, and reconstruction projects to maintain and grow the city’s transportation network,” Ludens said.

The preservation piece is where most residents will notice the difference. Crews finished asphalt overlay work on 260 blocks this year and applied slurry seal to another 890 blocks. Dustin Hanson, street operations manager for the city, said those treatments are about stretching the life of roads that already exist.

“We like to get five to seven years of additional life out of those streets,” Hanson said.

Major Interchanges Near the Finish Line

While neighborhood streets got their surface treatments, the state took on the big-ticket projects. Across the metro, work has covered the I-229 and Cliff Avenue interchange, South Veterans Parkway, and the I-29 and 85th Street interchange.

Sioux Falls budgets $65.1 million for highways and streets in 2026

The second phase of South Veterans Parkway is expected to open Nov. 6, and the Cliff Avenue interchange is expected to reopen Nov. 20 with three lanes in each direction. Harry Johnston, area engineer for the South Dakota Department of Transportation, said the added lanes are the point of the project.

“Once we get it fully open to traffic, then there’s additional lanes and with that, yeah, the congestion should definitely improve,” Johnston said.

City and state officials cautioned that the work is not finished. Some projects will roll into 2027 with more improvements planned for Sioux Falls roadways. Residents can track the city’s full slate at siouxfalls.gov/construction, and state projects at dot.sd.gov/projects-studies/construction-projects/.

With the Cliff Avenue interchange expected to reopen Nov. 20 and South Veterans Parkway’s second phase expected to open Nov. 6, some projects will continue into 2027.

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