Believe it or not, construction season is starting to wrap up across KELOLAND. And while drivers see plenty of orange barrels each year, some extra work this summer came at just the right time.

A 22-mile stretch of work on the westbound lane of Interstate 90 between White Lake and Mount Vernon, is one of 14 road projects paid for this year by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the $787 billion stimulus package approved by Congress last February.

"The contracting industry has really stepped up. This was a significant boost to the amount of heavy construction they were planning for the summer and it came at a very late date, said Darin Bergquist, Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Transportation.

South Dakota received $183 million from the stimulus package for highway improvement, maintenance and repair. About half of that has been used this year, the second half will be used up next year. This one job alone comes with a price tag of more than $23 million.

In fact, this project is one of the largest concrete construction jobs in the nation being paid for with federal stimulus dollars.

South Dakota Department of Transportation secretary Darin Bergquist says on top of the new road surfaces, that money has also benefited South Dakota by providing jobs for construction companies, preventing layoffs and in some case, even creating new jobs. (HOW MANY?)

"From both standpoints, I think it was very effective in that regard, to get additional people to work or keep them working. And highway construction jobs are pretty decent jobs, pretty decent paying jobs," Secretary Bergquist said.

Still, not everyone is as pleased about the street work being stimulated by Federal dollars.

"Well, I guess it has brought a little bit of business to the town. But I don't like the exits being closed the way they are, plus it’s kind of made a mess of some of the streets and roads in town," Elvina Johnson said.

Elvina Johnson has lived in Plankinton her whole life. Plankinton sits right in the middle of that massive interstate construction project.

“I stay off of the interstate. I don't like driving in all them comes and what-have-you. It's kind of nerve-wracking. I usually go on the old roads," Johnson said.

But Johnson says she'll take the good with the bad, as long as the crews, who've been visiting town, finish their work soon.

"Oh yeah, there's a few, and a few at the eating places and the gas pumps," Johnson said.

That's another level of benefits noted by Secretary Bergquist. And above all else, the extra funding for roadways came at just the right time. The federal highway funding program which typically helps pay for roadwork, expired in September.

"The stimulus funds this summer and next summer, if nothing else, they were a band-aid to help bridge the gap to meet some of those needs we had identified," Secretary Bergquist said.

As crews work to finish projects before winter sets in, Bergquist hopes Congress picks up the pace on finding the next way to ensure that South Dakota can afford smooth roads.

"Hopefully, before the stimulus program expires, we'll get a new federal program and this will be the start of a more sustained effort towards taking care of our road infrastructure in South Dakota," Bergquist said.

But he admits, getting to that point could be a long road ahead.

Of the federal stimulus money earmarked for highway work in South Dakota, three percent, or about five and half million dollars was set aside for enhancement projects, such as bike paths. The state DOT has also mapped out the stimulus work from this year and next.