SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A 13-mile stretch of I-90 west of Sioux Falls is being replaced with all-new concrete that should last for the next four decades. Drivers may have noticed a large plant on the north side of the interstate near Humboldt. The plant is the heart of the 35-million-dollar construction project.

Once an alfalfa field, Reede Construction has put together a fully functional concrete plant right next to I-90. It is the hub of activity with trucks coming and going. There are three main advantages to setting up this remote plant.

“We like to have a central location to cut down our trucking costs our haul there basically,” said Gary Huber, the Project Superintendent for Reede Construction.

The central location reduces travel time for the drivers, saves a huge amount of fuel and since concrete must be poured within a certain amount of time, it makes that process much less prone to waste.

“This end dump truck here, he’s got the concrete in there,” Huber points out as a truck rumbles by.

“It’s kind of in the middle of the project,” said South Dakota DOT’s Harry Johnston. “So we are able to go both ways to be able to efficiently build a project in shorter duration, its less impact to the traveling public so overall its kind of a win-win with both situations.”

You may have noticed that some of the interstate is concrete and some of it is asphalt. The Asphalt is actually an overlay designed to extend the life of the interstate, now both are actually being ground up and used as a base.

“The concrete that was existing on the main line we actually crushed that up removed all of the steel and then we mixed that with the dirt in order to build our sub base make it nice and hard, then we took all of the asphalt with mixed that , then put that down as our granular and then we are paving brand new concrete right on top,” said Johnston.

The Aberdeen based company is leasing the land from a farmer and will return it to its original condition.

“We drilled two wells on this property, and the land owners will take over on those wells so kind of a nice investment for him as well,” said Huber.

The 13-mile stretch of I-90 is scheduled to be finished by November, and both the DOT and Reede Construction say the weather has cooperated and everything appears to be on schedule.
The new interstate concrete is 12 inches thick and should last 40 years.