KELOLAND.com

Public comments wanted for South Dakota’s longest bridge

Photo from South Dakota DOT.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Public input is now being accepted on a drafted environmental assessment regarding the replacement of the Platte-Winner bridge. 

According to a news release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, public comments can be submitted electronically until Friday, July 7 on the project’s website – sd44bridge.com. Public meetings will be held in Winner on June 20 and in Platte on June 21. 

The Platte-Winner bridge, Highway 44 over the Missouri River, first opened to traffic in 1966 and stretches 5,655 feet long. The existing bridge has a 28 foot-wide bridge deck including two 12-foot wide travel lanes and two 2-foot wide shoulders. 

You can read the 79-page environmental assessment in the document attached below. 

“The bridge’s two-girder system prevents SDDOT from building a new structure in the existing location without long-term closure of the crossing to traffic. As such, it is not feasible to reconstruct the bridge and simultaneously maintain traffic,” the environmental assessment states. 

According to the project’s website, a new Platte-Winner bridge would be expected to be built for a 100-year design life and not start until 2024.