This was in my email box this morning from a South DaCola foot soldier, in reference to SD HWY 100;
Not sure if you saw the recent local news stories about SD100 (council meeting), but the first thing I heard this morning when I turned on my TV was Kasey Wonnenberg from Kelo reading a prompter (probably typed up by reporter Jared Ransom) saying that SD 100 had an expected completion date of 2018. I about choked on my Cheerios because that is completely incorrect.
If you saw the KDLT or Argus stories they correctly reported that the recent State DOT/City resolution and time-table discussed last night pertained to the eastern portion of SD100 from 57th St. running north to I-90. Those entities correctly reported that there is no expected date of completion for the southern portion of SD 100 yet, in fact, there isn’t even any money to get that portion built at all right now.
At an estimated $200 million to finish just the eastern portion, God only knows how expensive the southern portion will be when the State hasn’t even purchased all of the necessary easements and ROWs yet.
The SD 100 plan is 20 years old. Why should that matter you ask? How many 20 year old cars do you see on the road today? How many 20 year old computers do you see being used in your office? How many 20 year old phones do you see people talking on?  My point? This plan was concocted at time that preceded record growth in Lincoln County and southern Sioux Falls. How many times did we read in the Argus or hear on the local news that Lincoln County was consistently ranked as one of the fastest growing counties in the nation? The answer, A LOT. Nowhere else in Sioux Falls has the SD100 plan been rendered obsolete so quickly as it has in southern Sioux Falls and northern Lincoln County.
The smart play would be to figure out a way to pay for the at least $200 million of the portion being built from 57th to I-90 first, THEN figure out a way to pay for the $4.7 million per mile the State says it will cost in today’s dollars to maintain it for the next 40 years. Only when that has happened should anyone talk about building the southern portion of SD100. When you do get to that point, take a good hard look at county highway 106, you know, the one that already runs to the Tea Interchange at I-29, which is the final destination for the southern flank of SD100. That same county highway already has the necessary easements and ROW’s it will take to get this project done.
In the meantime, ask yourself why 49th Street hasn’t been completed running from Minnesota to Western, or why we continue to have dozens of cars waiting at red lights when there are is literally not one single car moving through the green light portion of the intersection. We have pot-holes all over town and will continue to have pot-holes that require costly maintenance. We have year to year infrastructure maintenance that falls behind further every day all over this city. Let’s improve the infrastructure we ALREADY have first and, here’s a novel idea, pay for it, before we over-extend taxpayers with the current build first and ask the hard questions later policy of MMM and his administration.
DL’s Note: I would agree, I am afraid all of this annexation and expansion is unsustainable. When we have to start borrowing money to maintain infrastructure, that’s not good. That’s like going to a check cashing place every month to pay your mortgage, eventually you will be behind the 8-Ball.   Â