While homeowners have legitimate questions about this road;

They’re worried the six-lane highway that will handle close to 30,000 vehicles a day is being built so close to their homes.

“A semi is 70 thousand pounds loaded, it takes 265 feet to stop at 60 mph that’s 130 feet off this person’s property here and the one back further is 120 feet,” Kampa said.

“My concern is the safety mainly and also the noise,” Wayne Wilhelmi said.

Wayne Wilhelmi built his house in 2015 and was never told Veterans Parkway was going to be in his backyard.

The real question is who is investing in development along the road.

But the city says landowners have been well informed and knew about this highway for years.

I will agree that this has been in the news for several years, and not insider city news, I think every major media source in Sioux Falls has been covering this road plan which was first initiated in 2003 and updated to final design in 2011.

I would agree we need another corridor in Sioux Falls, but I’m not sure a high speed road next to residential is the answer.

But one question I have been nagging reporters about for several years is looking into who is investing in development along the road, and specifically if any local elected officials (councilors, county commissioners, mayor, etc.) are investing in it thru various LLCs and different private investor groups.

I understand that getting this kind of information can be difficult, but I would encourage reporters to just ASK all our local elected officials if they or their spouse have any investments along this corridor. If they all say NO, your work is cut out for you, start digging, because guardrails and brakes on a semi-trucks is just a small part of this behemoth running thru our town.

By l3wis

8 thoughts on “Who is investing in Development along Veteran’s Parkway?”
  1. The city built only a small strip of the parkway. Their part is beside just a few unincorporated rural residences. It’s built to federal Interstate Highway standards because some day it will be. The state and federal government did a majority of the construction. It would have never happened as a city project. Funds would have been diverted and engineering inferior. The route was inevitable and best determined. It had to be end to end and not around one persons home. It took awhile to make the parkway happen. Likely, there was eminent domain process taking right-of-way. It is what it is. Appeasing the one percenters would have created major transportation problems.

    There’s a divided 4 lanes route that is to be an Interstate from Worthington MN to Sioux City IA. It’s used now but will eventually handle most truck traffic around Sioux Falls. The Parkway is now but will be principally cars.

  2. Hey, this would be a great highway for a lot of hog trailers to bring a lot of hogs to a hog packing plant on, every day and night.

  3. Hari-bourgeois Nord (Taupeville) might be upset, but isn’t this what the French call “caveat emptor”?

  4. I do not believe Eminent Domain was used in this project. The State DOT purchased land where they could outright, while utilizing already existing streets to make it happen. The State planned it as such, to utilize S.D Hwy 11 in the east, and the Tea-Ellis Road in the west, rebuilding both roads in the process as Phase 1 and Phase 2, while Phase 3 is now the Connector Road in between which is to be the City Street known as 85th Street. The City is responsible for much of the Sidewalks, Right of Way Projects along 85th Street and the Conneting Points, while the State is paying for the “Roadway” itself. What took so long was the State had to go through the process of buying property in the Southeast corner, enabling them to curve S.D Hwy 100 from S.D Hwy 11 to connect to 85th Street in the south.

    In the mean time, beginning in 2014, many land tracts, and properties were swapped between 2014 and 2018, while being annexed into the city, to be zoned and platted – much of the area is being zoned “Mixed-Use Development”.

  5. This has been planned for a long time, the ones that are profiting are the developers putting lots next to the future road easement and selling it before it is constructed. The home buyers should have done their due diligence prior to purchasing. Not much different that buying land next to a commercially zoned property and you not liking when the store is constructed.

  6. Mostly Farmsteads where much of S.D HWY 100 is being built on the southside. Meaning, the only ones complaining are the few housing developments along the southeastern edge of Tut-Hill between 69th and 85th where it is angling southwest to where it will make the connection to 271st Street.

    I agree, the people complaining today, gotta get over it, they knew the highways was coming, no different than the people who moved into Downtown today, complaining about the trains. STOP complaining. You had 20 years to say your peace.

  7. Why can’t I turn right on red if nobody works at the Argus?
    Somebody won the scavenger hunt. They found the Coke at the White House.

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