Completed in mid-October, work on the Sioux River Red Rock Trail will continue in the future, according to committee members.

The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of South Dakota’s Heavy-Highway-Utilities chapter recently awarded Buskerud Construction of Dell Rapids, the contractors on the trail project, with the “Build South Dakota Award, Category 1” for the company’s work.

This chapter of AGC is made up of more than 250 contractors, suppliers and service firms that build roads, bridges and water/wastewater infrastructure in South Dakota.

Beginnings

In 2005, a series of town hall meetings and surveys were hosted and conducted to gauge interest in a recreational trail. Dells residents Linsey Duffy and Jill Schumaker, who spent a great deal of time with their children on the existing trails at the time, began to research a trail project.

“We envisioned an area where neighbors of all ages could safely exercise, walk and talk and enjoy a relaxing day out in nature,” Duffy said. “We found a group of like-minded community members and began the trail building process.”

According to Duffy, they looked at studies on the effects of recreational trails on communities.

“There were so many benefits reported, including better physical and mental health, greater community cohesiveness, a perceived higher quality of life and a community-wide economic boost from drawing new residents to town, raising property values and business income from tourists and rural neighbors who use the trail,” she said.

Once a trail committee was formed in 2006, fund drives brought local people and businesses to donate generously to the cause.

After breaking ground in the fall of 2010, the bike trail construction began. As the low bidder on the project, Buskerud Construction was brought on as contractor for the project.

“Since the beginning, we’ve been a supporter of the project,” Buskerud president Kari Karst said. “There are a lot of people in this community that donated to the project.”

In addition to community donations, Buskerud and L.G. Everist donated materials for the work.

Though it was originally set for completion by last year’s Quarry Days June 18, flooding in the fall and following spring delayed progress on the 62,500 square-foot trail.

“We couldn’t get back on the project due to the flooding and the latent effects of the flooding until late summer,” Karst said.

By March 2011, the pedestrian bridge had been set, and by Oct. 15, the project was officially complete. The completion was aided by increased numbers of workers brought in to complete the paving by hand, as the slip-form paver was in high demand.

“We were happy with the project,” Karst said. “Our people really came together.”

Duffy said that the most exciting thing about the project was the involvement of the community.

“Without donations big and small, the support of the city, generous gifts of time and great attention to detail by local workers, the trail would still be a dream on paper,” she said. “Instead, it’s become an active place where new faces appear every day to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather.”

Winding behind the ballparks on Garfield Avenue, the trail opens up part of the park that is not used often, according to Karst.

“I think it’s proven itself,” she said. “It seems that I can’t go through a weekend without seeing people out on the trail. Even though the project didn’t get done until October, as soon as we opened pieces of it, people were using it.”

Future Plans

With this section of trail complete, Duffy hopes to see additional improvements in the future.

“We would like to see a safe pedestrian crossing built near Highway 115 and an additional path linking the southern and western neighborhoods of Dell Rapids to the new trail,” she said.

She said that plans are in the works to make Highway 77, from 4th Street to 15th Street, a more bike- and pedestrian-friendly area.

Karst said that there was some hesitation on building the connecting piece of trail via the Garfield Avenue bridge, as the city has plans for future work on the structure.

The committee plans to push for a connection of the segments once the bridge is renovated.