Box Elder has been growing, and its roads are starting to feel it. City officials say growth around Ellsworth Air Force Base and across the region is putting more pressure on the city's transportation network every year.
Now the city is laying the groundwork for a fix. But the bigger projects will take a while.
According to KBHB News, City Engineer Scott Lange said Box Elder recently secured federal funding to design improvements in three major corridors. They are Highway 14/16, Radar Hill Road from the highway to the airport, and Cheyenne Boulevard as a new east-west arterial.
The federally funded design process could take up to two years before construction begins.
Counting cars first
To help guide that design, the city collected traffic data Oct. 13 through 15 at four busy intersections. Counters went up at Radar Hill Road and Highway 14/16, Radar Hill Road and Cheyenne Boulevard, Elk Vale Road and Cheyenne Boulevard, and Northern Lights Boulevard and Cheyenne Boulevard. The counters have since been removed. The information will be used to shape future transportation improvements, according to the city.
Lange said the pressure on Box Elder's roads comes from several directions at once. There is rapid growth around Ellsworth, continued growth across the region and Box Elder's relative affordability.
He said water and wastewater infrastructure have largely kept up with that growth. Transportation is now becoming the major infrastructure need.
The three main corridors will also include walking trails and sidewalks. Lange said that will create connections for pedestrians and other users, not just cars.
Floodplain rules and federal strings
The design work won't be simple. Lange said the floodplain is one of the biggest challenges.
"The floodplain's a big challenge," he said. "We've gotta follow all the environmental rules" that come with federal funding, along with Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations and rules tied to Box Elder Creek.
That's part of why the projects can look like they're moving in pieces. Lange said they are part of a larger, coordinated plan.
"It's coordinated, it moves at the speed of funding," he said.
Some work is coming sooner. Lange said traffic signals at Reagan Avenue and Liberty Boulevard, near Exit 67 and Lowe's, are scheduled to move into construction next year. So are improvements at Mall Drive and Elk Vale Road, which are being coordinated with Rapid City. Those projects are expected to take about a year to finish and become operational.
The South Dakota Department of Transportation's planned reconstruction of Interstate 90 Exit 63 is also still working through floodplain-related issues, KBHB reported.
Taken together, the projects are part of a broader effort to get Box Elder's road system ready for more growth, especially as development tied to Ellsworth and the surrounding region adds traffic.
For residents, the message from city hall is patience. The signal projects are expected to be working within about a year of starting construction, while the larger corridor projects still have up to two years of design ahead before any construction can begin.
Why it matters for Contractors
For road builders, utility contractors and engineering firms in western South Dakota, Box Elder is a market to watch. Federal design money comes first, and construction comes later, but that's how projects like this get lined up. The signal work near Exit 67 and the Mall Drive and Elk Vale Road improvements are expected to move into construction next year.
Floodplain rules and federal requirements will shape how these jobs are designed and bid. Contractors who know FEMA and environmental compliance will have an edge. Federally funded jobs come with their own paperwork, so firms that want a piece of this work should start watching city agendas and bid notices now, while the design is still taking shape.
For homebuilders, the road plans are a sign that Box Elder expects to keep growing. When a city says water and sewer have kept pace and roads are now the main need, it suggests local leaders expect growth to continue. Better roads and new sidewalks and trails would make the neighborhoods along those corridors easier to reach and more attractive to buyers. Builders weighing where to buy lots in the Rapid City area may want to watch where these corridors end up.