First, I want to clarify something. I support upgrades along the greenway like making the bike trail more appealing along that route. But I have often thought building an amphitheater and a pedestrian bridge right in front of a private office building is questionable. Now it seems we have more hidden costs;
SIOUX FALLS, SD – The $5Â million River Greenway project along the banks of the Big Sioux River in downtown Sioux Falls is digging up some hidden costs.
The River Greenway project began three months ago. It will add larger sidewalks, an amphitheater and more landscaping to make the banks of the Big Sioux more of a park than just a bike path.
And to build the walls along the water crews have to drill down to the bedrock, but that rock is not where they thought it would be.
“The bedrock elevation throughout the wall section of our project was a little bit deeper than anticipated,” River Greenway project Manager Brad Ludens said.
Kinda reminds you of another project that we did not need that went over cost, doesn’t it?
Cough . . . cough . . . Phillips to the Falls . . . cough . . . cough. How’s the growth and development going in that area? Heard they are trying to get an old folks home built there. That’ll bring in the tourists to Downtown!
If we knew for sure that the Events Center would be built next to the Cherapa place, I would be all for the pedestrian bridge, but I question this project when there is so much uncertainty. Also, as I understand it, when the $5 million was approved for the project, Mike Cooper had no idea how the money was going to be spent, I think a lot of these amenities are clearly pulled from someone’s ass.
We can beautify this part of the greenway, and we don’t need to spend $6.4 million to do it.