With Thune, Rounds Support, Tea and U.S. Highway 83 Receive Critical Infrastructure Grants
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) today applauded the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) decision to award the City of Tea’s County Highway 106 project and South Dakota Department of Transportation’s U.S. Highway 83 project $8.7 million and $20 million, respectively, in critical infrastructure funding under the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program. Today’s announcement follows multiple requests from the senators to DOT Secretary Elaine Chao for these projects’ funding.
“With the Department of Transportation’s decision to award BUILD grants to the City of Tea and for U.S. Highway 83, which stretches across central South Dakota, our state will receive a significant investment to strengthen and modernize our infrastructure,” said Thune. “While these are localized projects, this puts the entire state and region in a better, stronger position, and I want to thank Secretary Chao for recognizing these opportunities in South Dakota and for her continued focus on rural America.”
“I thank Secretary Chao for recognizing the need to invest in these important infrastructure projects,” said Rounds. “The Highway 106 and Highway 83 projects will not only benefit the surrounding communities, they will allow for increased transport of goods and commodities across the region – a surefire boon to the regional economy.”
The City of Tea plans to move forward with the reconstruction of a portion of Highway 106, located in the southwest Sioux Falls metropolitan area. Since the route from Interstate 29 to 469th Avenue is the community’s primary and commercial and residential transportation thoroughfare, County Highway 106 experiences substantial vehicle traffic each day, creating unsafe driving conditions.
The proposed project in Tea would rebuild the rural, two-lane highway into a four-lane divided highway with limited access. The reconstruction would not only provide important safety upgrades but would also provide a reliable and effective transportation route.
U.S. 83 is a north-south highway cutting across South Dakota and America’s heartland. Once the only paved route stretching from Canada to Mexico, this thoroughfare continues to be an integral part of our National Highway System. Navigating through six states and critical to our nation’s agriculture and energy sectors, access and connectivity enhancements to U.S. Highway 83 are essential to ensuring an efficient transportation network.
South Dakota Department of Transportation plans to move forward with grading, freight climbing lanes, resurfacing, drainage, shoulder work, and other features along 23 miles of U.S. Highway 83. This project is an important component of a longer corridor augmentation along the highway between South Dakota and Nebraska.
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Good to see Marion is still taking credit for the work of other people.
Thune has been working with the project sponsors and the city of Tea for years to finally get this project of the finish line.
Disappointed he’s not getting full credit for his work.
This is great news for South Dakota. I don’t care who gets the credit. Thune is terrific, I agree. I’ll vote to re-elect him as often as possible & I wouldn’t be surprised if his profound influence was, as they say, “mission critical.” Regardless, I’m thankful to our state’s entire congressional delegation.
Troy- why is everything black and white in your world?
Marion is mediocre at best-
Way to go. My Senators working together for the benefit of our citizens.
To the first poster, Mike is getting way to much free rent in your head. Is the fact he is taking the Senate lead, a position given him by the wall hawks because of his focus and work on the subject, on fully funding the wall going to cause you to support open borders and amnesty?
Your personal bias against Senator Rounds is kinda on your sleeve, evidenced by your assertion he is “mediocre at best” which flies in the face of the reality his Republican colleagues have put in in the lead on one of the most significant and intractable problems before Congress. Its not like he has been called on to mediate life and death matter of what the national snack is.
But, I get it. Jealousy causes people to be stupid.
This is from me. I didn’t realize I’d gotten logged out of SDWC.
What do I have to be jealous of Marion?
He will always be second fiddle to Thune. He’s a lackey to the party and hasn’t done anything for South Dakota.
Show me an original thought of his that became law.