SD Roads

tmrichardson said:
I'm curious where $$ for maintenance and repair of SD's rural road system (not minor roads but numbered county roads) and what is going on with that lately.

Been hunting NE SD for a long time- traveled it even longer-- and I have never seen rural county roads in as bad a shape as they are right now.

Poor tar road that was marginal 10 years back has been allowed to decline to a dangerous condition, replaced by intermittent gravel stretches with no warning when driving along that you are moving from tar to gravel, axle busting holes in the middle of the road, shoulders that are not there and are going to kill someone someday, etc.

Yes it's a wet cycle, but there have been really wet periods at other times in the last 15 years or so and the roads were not nearly this bad. It really looks like no road upgrades have occurred that whole time, just patches and fixes and such.

People say roads in MN are bad but they are nowhere near as poor!
Click to expand...

i dont know if you remembered, but the governor cut a big cut in the budget... so lots of counties have to deal with what they got due to the economy.


alot of the counties are saving road maintance for snow removal.
 
tmrichardson said:
I'm curious where $$ for maintenance and repair of SD's rural road system (not minor roads but numbered county roads) and what is going on with that lately.

Been hunting NE SD for a long time- traveled it even longer-- and I have never seen rural county roads in as bad a shape as they are right now.

Poor tar road that was marginal 10 years back has been allowed to decline to a dangerous condition, replaced by intermittent gravel stretches with no warning when driving along that you are moving from tar to gravel, axle busting holes in the middle of the road, shoulders that are not there and are going to kill someone someday, etc.

Yes it's a wet cycle, but there have been really wet periods at other times in the last 15 years or so and the roads were not nearly this bad. It really looks like no road upgrades have occurred that whole time, just patches and fixes and such.

People say roads in MN are bad but they are nowhere near as poor!
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you. I hunt alot around the Watertown to Webster area and the decline has been very noticeable in the past 10 years. I took #17 south from #212 and hit a stretch of gravel going 65 mph. No signs and I almost rolled my vehicle. I called the highway department and was told to slow down. I told them I was traveling the speed limit which was at least 10-15 mph higher than the road conditions. I guess the only thing is to slow down
 
The federal money goes to the big roads, I 29, I 90, US 12 (4-lane from I 29 to Aberdeen now), US212, they even made 83 a four lane from I 90 to Pierre. There just isn't much state and local money to go around. No state income tax in SD and property tax revenues are quite a bit less in SD than MN also. The reservations have pretty good roads, federal money again.
 
Asphalt is tied to the price of oil which is $80 a barrel, and South Dakota has no state income tax. Any suggestions?
 
niceshot said:
Asphalt is tied to the price of oil which is $80 a barrel, and South Dakota has no state income tax. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

You can pay less tax and get less. You can pay more tax and get more.

Your choice, but no free lunches.
 
You also have to concider as part of the problem (but not the only problem.) is that all the farmers are now using semi tractor trailers to haul there grain from the field. So especially during that time of year they are getting used alot. And by heavy loads. But something has got to change. I have seen whole county paved roads under water from the rising water lines from sloughs/lakes in the area and the detours around them some times takes a couple miles.
 
jnormanh said:
You can pay less tax and get less. You can pay more tax and get more.

Your choice, but no free lunches.
Click to expand...

It wasn't a South Dakota resident complaining about the roads, it was MN, land of high taxes, residents, we like our low taxes and don't mind the roads.:) I used to be a MN resident myself, I saw the light!
 
TM, I am basically opposite of you, pay property taxes in SD and MN but have no voting power on who gets to decide how to spend it in MN!:) I would still take the SD rate and valuation over the MN rate and valuation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top