Road report: Week of June 14

Construction season is here, so we’re giving you a weekly look at what projects are done, where you’ll find traffic impacts and what’s scheduled next.

What’s (almost) done

Marion Road from 41st Street to south of 57th Street has been under construction since early April, with Marion closed from 53rd to 57th streets for water main replacement and other underground utility repairs, as well as concrete repairs, accessible curb ramp improvements, and an asphalt mill and overlay between 41st Street and the Marion Road cul-de-sac south of 57th Street.

The water main replacement was the reason for the road closure, and now all that’s left is the top lift of asphalt, manhole adjustments and pavement striping. The hope is to open that segment of Marion Road to traffic by June 18.

What’s underway

Phase two of the Marion Road project, which is 41st to 53rd and 57th south to the end of the cul-de-sac, starts June 14. Work is on the east side of the street first and will shift to the west likely in mid-July. One lane in each direction will stay open, unless asphalt milling or paving are going on, in which case one direction will be maintained and one will be detoured. Work on this segment is expected to be completed in late July or early August

South of 57th Street, Marion Road is going to be closed to traffic until that segment is done in mid-July.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation also will be working on the 57th Street bridge over I-29 near this area June 16 and 17.  Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days.

New this week

With the early burst of hot weather, concrete pavement blowups have become a challenge already. Concrete expands and contracts with the heat and cold.

“We design relief for this by creating transverse joints in the pavement. When the pavement expands or contracts, these joints allow space for the movement so that the pavement is not damaged,” said Dominique Clare, communications and marketing coordinator for the Public Works Department.

“However, on older pavements, these joints can sometimes lock up. This can cause the stresses in the pavement to be higher than the strength of the concrete. It is magnified in the spring and early summer when we get our first hot weather. When this happens, the pavement will fail and buckle, or tent up.”

Then, the city temporarily repairs the area to provide safe driving lanes, breaking up and removing the broken concrete and filling the hole with asphalt. Later, a contractor cuts out a patch and replaces it with a concrete joint repair. Streets where blowups typically happen include North Minnesota Avenue, West 41st Street, West 12th Street and Cliff Avenue.

Starting June 14, there will be lane closures at the intersection of 57th Street and Louise Avenue for concrete pavement repairs. Two lanes of traffic will be maintained northbound and westbound, with one lane of traffic maintained southbound and eastbound.

Weather permitting, this work is expected to done within two weeks.

What’s next

Beginning at 6 a.m. June 21, Eighth Street will be closed to through traffic between Phillips and Weber avenues. Through traffic will be detoured onto Sixth Street. Eighth Street will remain open to local traffic between Philips Avenue and the East Bank Depot.

The city of Sioux Falls and BNSF will be working jointly to replace the crossing surface of the Eighth Street railroad crossing near Weber Avenue.

The project is anticipated to be complete and reopened to traffic by 5 p.m. June 25.

You wanted to know

One reader asked: “What’s the plan to complete the Veterans Parkway and Arrowhead intersection?”

The intersection is tentatively scheduled to be completed in 2023-24, according to the city, pending successful right-of-way negotiations.