State to Improve Highway 34... from Colman to Minnesota

Careful readers of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) for 2008-2012 will notice that the news wasn't all bad for travelers of Highway 34. A glance at the Moody County Enterprise online indicates that the state does have money for two lanes' worth of new pavement, but instead of laying that pavement from Colman west to Madison to double the lanes, the state will lay it east to the Minnesota border to replace the existing roadway.

Anyone who has driven over to Egan, Flandreau, or Pipestone can attest that, past the old Lonetree, Highway 34 might as well be gravel. A few years ago either the state or Moody County found a little money for paving it, but that only got travelers a couple of strips of asphalt over the wheel tracks. Not exactly the sort of infrastructure that makes us look good to our Minnesota visitors.

So new SDDoT chief Darin Bergquist didn't leave the friends of Highway 34 completely empty-handed: we may not get to speed along four lanes to Colman, but we'll have a smoother ride from there to the Egan Bar and the Hiawatha Pageant.