SIOUX CENTER, Iowa — As heavy construction equipment rolled up and down U.S. Highway 75 through the heart of Sioux Center all summer, local residents navigated side streets and alternate routes to access businesses and run errands.
For most residents, where there was a will, there was way. Even if the street’s closed, one still needs to pick up prescription medications.
“I don’t feel it’s affected our business too much because our customers are very loyal,” said Becky Beitelspacher, chief pharmacist at Lewis Family Drug, 143 S. Main Ave.
Beitelspacher has had a front-row seat to the latest phase of a four-year project to expand a 2.5-mile stretch of U.S. 75 through the city’s center. Since spring, a 10-block section of the highway through much of Sioux Center’s downtown business district has been closed.
The front parking area at Lewis Family Drug, which fronts U.S. 75, was open, but the highway’s closure forced customers to use side streets to get to it.
“It’s inconvenient, but it hasn’t been impossible,” Beitelspacher said.
With paving of a three-block section through the city’s main downtown intersection expected to take place next week, U.S. 75 could be reopened to through traffic around Nov. 1, city administrator Scott Wynja said. The city then faces one more summer of closures, construction and detours before the project is finished.
“It seems like we just started this project. Every day we say we’re one day closer to being done,” Wynja said.
U.S. Highway 75 in downtown Sioux Center, Iowa, was torn up as recently as this Sept. 22 photo, showing the main downtown intersection at Thir…
Work began in 2023 on the project, which stretches from 20th Street South to 12th Street North, nearly the entire length of Sioux Center’s main street that runs north and south through town.
The highway’s old alignment — two lanes of traffic in each direction that changed to single traffic lanes with a turning lane through downtown — often led to traffic congestion and caused safety concerns. The road’s concrete substructure, some of it dating back to the late 1920s and early ‘30s, also had deteriorated, resulting in a rough ride through town.
Workers are nearly three-fourths of the way through expanding the route to an enhanced four-lane highway with two lanes in each direction and center medians and turning lanes all the way through town. The highway is being widened 7-10 feet on each side. Water, sewer and other utility lines and street lighting along the route also are being upgraded.
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The city and the Iowa Department of Transportation have partnered on the project, with the city paying about $19 million of the total costs, which are on target to hit the estimated $52 million.
The southern half of the project already is finished, and local residents, seeing the wider driving surface and attractive medians with colored concrete, trees, plants and artificial turf, now have a good idea what U.S. 75 will look like when finished. Wynja said feedback has generally been positive.
“It’s been received extremely well. I think people are pleased with the final product,” Wynja said.
Workers with Nystrom Electric install pedestrian crossing beacons recently near First Street North and U.S. Highway 75 in Sioux Center, Iowa. …
That doesn’t mean it’s been easy. This summer’s phase sometimes forced downtown business owners to close their front doors while work took place immediately in front of their location. Giving advanced notice of construction plans helped, Wynja said, and many businesses were equipped to handle the lack of access from U.S. 75.
“A lot of our businesses in the downtown area have good rear accesses to use while the streets have been closed. It’s worked out actually pretty well,” Wynja said.
Speaking with customers, Beitelspacher said seeing the completed sections of the project seems to help residents put up with the temporary inconveniences.
“It’s kind of a necessary pain for improvement,” she said.
With paving nearly done for the year, everyone can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And with just one year left in the project, the light is getting brighter.
“It is turning out as we anticipated, and we are pleased with the end product,” Wynja said.
Once the project’s completed, Sioux Center residents will have a break from construction until 2028-29, when the IDOT plans to expand the highway north of 12th Street North and resurface six miles to the intersection of U.S. Highway 18.
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Nick Hytrek
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