Interstate 90 road construction picks up again around Hartford, with one lane traffic in each direction
Mar. 23—HUMBOLDT, S.D. — The South Dakota Department of Transportation announced this week that work is scheduled to begin on Interstate 90 near Humboldt (exit 379) to Buffalo Ridge (exit 390).
Work was slated to begin on Monday, March 20. The contractor will begin working in the eastbound lanes on guardrail installation to prepare for two-way traffic in the eastbound lane on Monday, April 3, weather permitting.
The project will remove and replace the existing surfacing in the westbound lanes and remove and replace the bridge at Humboldt (exit 379). The construction project will also remove the bridge just west of exit 390 and replace it with a box culvert.
The prime contractor on this $35.7 million project is Reede Construction, of Aberdeen. The overall completion date is Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023.
The overwidth detour follows South Dakota Highway 38 and goes through Salem, Montrose, Humboldt and Hartford before picking back up on Interstate 90.
The traffic follows two years of reconstruction over 15 miles on Interstate 90 from Salem to Humboldt at the cost of $37.5 million. Eastbound lanes were done in 2021 and westbound lanes were completed in 2022 and two bridges and a box culvert were completed in that time, plus building a new 11 1/2-inch concrete surface with asphalt shoulders. As originally scheduled with that project, shoulder work and final striping will be completed in spring 2023.
The state's interstate system accounts for less than 9% of the state's highway miles but carries more than 45% of the traffic, according to South Dakota Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, or STIP, which outlines the planned construction projects in future years.
