Savage Words: Booking round trip flights from Brandon to Sioux Falls
Has anyone else noticed the road construction between Sioux Falls and Brandon?
Good lord.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I actually live in Sioux Falls. But between my parents living in Brandon and my commitments to the Journal, I’m in Brandon quite a bit.
But getting there lately has been a challenge. No doubt those of you who commute every day in-and-out of Sioux Falls feel it, too.
I was on my way out to Brandon last week for a baseball game. I left Sioux Falls, heading east on 26th Street, which hooks onto Highway 11 and then winds its way into Brandon.
That was a no go.
So I went a little further north with hopes of turning right on 10th Street before heading east to Brandon.
Have you seen that intersection lately? It looks like a flipping war zone.
Again, no go.
Didn’t they just redo that entire area east of Veterans Parkway? It feels like an F1 course cruising through those curves near Willow Run Golf Course.
I went north again on Veterans, and this time found success as Madison Street, which pops out at Cherry Rock Farms in Brandon, was open heading east.
Just getting to Madison was a chore, however. The city of Sioux Falls is in the midst of a concrete repair project on Veterans, making for even more interesting negotiating.
The twists, turns and detours can make it tough to orchestrate the trip between the two cities. Makes you wonder if the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce has a devious plan of trying to keep residents inside the city limits and not let them navigate into Sioux Falls.
One of the toughest maneuvers going from Brandon to Sioux Falls is that the detour on Six Mile Road sends travelers south to 41st Street. That’s a tad bit out of the way if you were heading west into Sioux Falls on 10th Street.
But that exact thing happened to me later when I left the Brandon baseball game and had forgotten about all the construction.
Finally, getting to 41st Street and turning west, you start to feel like you’re reaching Sioux Falls as buildings slowly form on the horizon. But, the first building you come upon is Brandon Valley Inspirational Elementary School on the corner of 41st and Sparta in Sioux Falls city limits. Will the journey ever end?
There’s also the ongoing Interstate 90 construction on Exit 406 in Brandon. That project has made for interesting maneuvering as well. The city of Sioux Falls is also planning an overlay project from Veterans Parkway west into Sioux Falls on Rice Street.
Obviously, it’s road construction season and Brandon isn’t the only community dealing with it. Have you seen Cliff Avenue in Sioux Falls near Lincoln High School? Talk about war zones. That area between Lincoln and Interstate 229 looks like Beirut in the 1980s.
It dawned on me last week as I approached Inspiration Elementary that Brandon and Sioux Falls are very, very connected.
I grew up on the far east side of Sioux Falls, probably about a mile outside of the Brandon Valley School District boundary. I remember then thinking that although Brandon was our nearest neighbor, it was still pretty far away. Our Sunday night drives to Huset’s Speedway in the 1970s seemed like a trek.
That is certainly not the case today. Brandon and Sioux Falls are banging against each other, and it gets tighter and more congested each year.
It’s a pain, this whole growth thing.
But we should be thankful, albeit annoyed. There are just over 82,000 miles of roadways in South Dakota, and a huge chunk of funds are being spent on improving the Brandon and Sioux Falls metro.
These infrastructure improvements were inevitable, so I guess I’ll live with the ‘rip-the-bandage-off-and-get-it-done’ approach. I suppose I can appreciate all of the federal, state, county and city funding going into making this frequent commute smoother.
But until then, if you’ve got a helicopter service between Brandon and Sioux Falls, hit me up.
With the school year fast approaching, I’ll be in Brandon quite a bit. I’d be happy to chat about round trip tickets in the air.
