I-29 | |||
Get started | North Sioux City | ||
End | New Effington | ||
Length | 252 mi | ||
Length | 406 km | ||
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Interstate 29 or I -29 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The highway forms a north-south through the extreme east of the state, parallel to the Minnesota border. The highway runs from North Sioux City on the border with Iowa via the largest city of Sioux Falls to New Effington on the border with North Dakota. Interstate 29 is 406 kilometers long in South Dakota.
- NecessaryHome: Provides a list of all postal codes in the state of South Dakota, covering area code, zip code and map for each city within South Dakota.
Travel directions
I-29 at Sioux Falls.
I-29 at Twin Brooks.
Interstate 29 in Iowa enters the state of South Dakota at North Sioux City. You pass a few villages that serve as suburbs of Sioux City and the highway then continues to the north. The road leads through the agricultural areas along the Big Sioux River and the Missouri River. The first place of interest you pass by is Vermillion. The highway then runs for tens of kilometers straight to the north, towards Sioux Falls. Near the village of Worthing one crosses the US 18, which runs from Canton to Winner, a long way to the west. The straight section has a length of 75 kilometers and reaches to Sioux Falls.
Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota. On the south side of the city, Interstate 229 exits to form an eastern bypass of the city. I-29 passes along the west side of the city and intersects on the northwest side with Interstate 90, the highway from Rapid City to Chicago. There are virtually no major cities along I-90, the first major city to the west is actually terminus Seattle.
After Sioux Falls, the long route to the north begins, where in winter driving conditions become increasingly difficult and cold, temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero can occur, as well as snow storms and ice storms. The area is fairly sparsely populated, but there are still villages and small towns from time to time. The road network is in a 1 mile by 1 mile grid pattern. You pass Brookings, a small town where you cross US 14, which leads to Huron in the west. The route is quite monotonous, there are few trees and the area is very flat. A somewhat larger town is Watertown, which has 20,000 inhabitants. Here one crosses the US 212, which runs from Montevideo in Minnesota to Belle Fourche in far west South Dakota, hundreds of miles away.
The monotonous landscape also continues north of Watertown. However, there are occasionally small lakes, which were formed during the ice age. This area is littered with it. At the village of Summit, you cross US 12, which runs from Milbank in Minnesota to Aberdeen as a 2×2 road. Just past New Effington, the highway crosses the border into North Dakota. Interstate 29 in North Dakota continues north to Fargo and the Canadian border.
- a2zDirectory: Lists popular attractions in South Dakota, including parks, festivals and holidays of South Dakota.
History
I-29 at I-90 in Sioux Falls.
Before I-29 was built, US 81 was a north-south route in this part of the United States, although the South Dakota corridor coincided with later I-29 only north of Watertown. This was traditionally the primary thoroughfare to Winnipeg in Canada.
When the Interstate Highway system was planned in the 1950s, I-29 was only planned from Kansas City to Sioux Falls and would thus only run through southern South Dakota. When the northward extension to the Canadian border was proposed, a route through western Minnesota was envisioned, but a route through eastern South Dakota and North Dakota was ultimately chosen. Construction on I-29 began in the late 1950s and by 1961 the first section was opened for about 25 miles between the Iowa border.and Vermillion. The section also opened at the end of November 1961 from US 18 at Davis to I-90 in Sioux Falls. By the late 1960s, the route had been completed as far as Colman and a section of approximately 175 kilometers could be driven through. In 1971 this section was extended some 40 kilometers north to Brookings. By the late 1970s, almost all of I-29 was completed except for the Sisseton area route, which opened in 1985.
Traffic intensities
Between Sioux City and Sioux Falls, the intensities slowly rise from 10,000 to 20,000 vehicles per day, making the highway very quiet. The busiest point is in Sioux Falls with 47,000 vehicles per day. North of Sioux Falls, the intensity drops further, to below 10,000 vehicles, and in the north to just 4,100 vehicles per day.
Lane Configuration
From | Unpleasant | lanes |
Exit 1 | Exit 246 | 2×2 |