Why Box Elder's Road Work Shows Up One Piece at a Time

"It moves at the speed of funding." Box Elder City Engineer Scott Lange had that message for residents watching roads get fixed in what can look like random order, as KOTA reported in October. He started that message with "It's coordinated."

I think his line explains this year better than anything else. If you drive Liberty Boulevard, Tower Road, Elk Vale, or Highway 1416 most days, you've probably noticed that one project finishes early while another stays stuck in design. Each project moves at the pace of its funding, and state grants, federal design money, and city budgets all run on different clocks. Once you know which kind of money is behind a project, you can make a decent guess about when it will reach your street.

The Bridge That Finished First

The clearest example sits where Bennett Road meets East Mall Drive. The City of Box Elder reported that on Tuesday, Oct. 6, Gov. Larry Rhoden joined city officials, developers, and South Dakota Department of Transportation staff to open the new Bennett Road Bridge. It cost $3.5 million and was mostly paid for by SDDOT's Bridge Improvement Grant Program. The Rapid City Journal reported that the bridge closes the gap between Bennett Road and East Mall Drive, and that construction started in late spring.

The timing is what stands out. In late August, a city construction update set Nov. 25, 2026, as the target for substantial completion. The same update scheduled a through-traffic closure from East Mall Drive to County Road for the week of Aug. 31. The bridge opened about seven weeks before that target. KOTA's summary called it a state grant that replaced a failing, substandard bridge and "moved faster than federal jobs."

City Administrator Hank Prim told KELOLAND News why the grant mattered beyond the bridge. "We're able to take money and save it from not having to put all city funds directly into this bridge," he said. That money can go to other priorities, such as paving roads and water and wastewater work. Because a state grant covered the bridge, city dollars are free for the next project on the list.

The Bigger Corridors Have More Rules to Follow

The bigger roads are a different case. KOTA reported that Box Elder recently got federal funding to design three corridors: Highway 1416, Radar Hill Road out to the airport, and Cheyenne Boulevard, which is planned as a new east-west arterial. Lange said design alone could take up to two years.

The reason is the land the roads cross. "The floodplain's a big challenge," Lange told KOTA, explaining that the city has to follow the environmental rules that come with federal dollars, FEMA regulations, and Box Elder Creek. Those rules come with the federal money, and they set the pace for the design work.

If you saw traffic counters out in mid-October, they were part of this design work. The city collected data Oct. 13 to 15 at four intersections:

• Radar Hill Road and Highway 1416
• Radar Hill Road and Cheyenne Boulevard
• Elk Vale Road and Cheyenne Boulevard
• Northern Lights Boulevard and Cheyenne Boulevard

The federal money for these corridors also came out of a state project. KOTA traced it to SDDOT's Exit 63 rebuild, which led to a metropolitan planning organization corridor study about three years ago. Pennington County, Box Elder, and the MPO adopted that study, and it produced the design funding now in use. The Exit 63 rebuild itself is still working through floodplain details, according to the same report. Prim told KELOLAND that the interchange is expected to "significantly change the traffic flow and the traffic congestion" in the area, and that the Bennett Road Bridge keeps east-west connections open while that happens.

When the three corridors are built, they will look different from today's roads. Lange said all three will include walking trails and sidewalks. KOTA also noted long-term plans for gravel recreation trails in the floodplain and creek areas, where building isn't allowed. The same floodplain that slows the design work will become trail space.

Every Project, Sorted by Its Clock

Here's what's moving now, based on the city's Oct. 21 roads update, its Oct. 22 construction update, and KOTA's reporting.

The two signals are the nearest relief for daily drivers. The city places the Exit 67 signal at Reagan and Liberty Boulevard "at the Love's Travel Stop." Lange told KOTA that both signals would go to construction next year and be in service in about a year.

The city is also designing improvements for two stretches near the school campus. One is North Ellsworth Road between the AFB Main Gate and Patriot Gate. The other is Tower Road between Liberty Boulevard and 225th Street. North Elk Vale is a regional job. The city recently met with Rapid City, Pennington County, Meade County, and the South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority to plan repairs there. KOTA reported that the Legislature's money for Ellsworth-area restorations is split among those four local governments, and that the timing for Elk Vale is still being discussed. Four governments sharing one pot of money is one more clock running on its own schedule.

What to Expect on Tower Road This Month

The 225th Street and Tower Road sidewalk is the project you're most likely to drive past this month. It fills in missing pieces between existing stretches of sidewalk on both streets. The contractor is Tru-Form Construction, KLJ Engineering is the project engineer, and SDDOT manages the job.

One piece of it could change your route. To build a section of sidewalk and a curb ramp, crews need to close the southbound right-turn lane on Tower Road at 225th. The city's Oct. 22 update said the date was still to come. Crews plan to work between morning and afternoon school traffic, and weekend work is "a strong possibility" to keep the impact down. If you use that turn lane for school drop-off, check the city's construction updates page before the weekend.

The same update has a smaller item for anyone in Liberty Plaza. No-parking signs are going up on the south side of Henry Potter Drive and Nighthawk Drive. Parking stays allowed in the designated lots and on the north side of both streets.

Why the Pipes Came Before the Pavement

The underground work is further along than the roads. Lange told KOTA that water and wastewater are in good shape and transportation is now the focus. The Cheyenne / West Gate Sewer Project, with a final completion date of fall 2026, adds a sewer main from the Highway 14/16 median near the West Gate Road crossing. It runs south to the future Cheyenne Boulevard crossing, south of the Alpha Omega subdivision. In October, the pipe crossing under the railroad and Highway 14/16 passed its mandrel testing.

That sewer main ends at a road that hasn't been built. KOTA reported that Cheyenne Boulevard is expected to open the south side for development and give Box Elder a second east-west arterial besides I-90 and Highway 1416. The pipe is due this fall, while the road it will meet still has up to two years of federally funded design ahead of it.

The city explains the general approach in its own update. Projects are planned well ahead through Master Transportation Plans, Master Park Plans, and Comprehensive Plans, and "the pace of the projects moves at the speed of the funding," which "often comes from different sources and at different rates."

The Liberty Boulevard sidewalk shows how this works. The Main Street to Tower Road section already has its grant. The city is applying for more grant money to extend the sidewalk from Tower Road to Reagan. If that money comes through, both Liberty Boulevard sections could be designed together. Whether Liberty Boulevard gets one connected sidewalk project or two separate ones depends on that grant decision.

If you have questions about how a road project might affect a property you own or are thinking about buying in Box Elder, Cheyenne McGriff is happy to walk through it with you. I keep up with these city updates because they change which streets are easy to get in and out of, and that matters long before a signal goes in. Reach out for a free home valuation, and I'll include the projects planned near your address.