A RESOLUTION, Urging the South Dakota Department of Transportation to reconsider the three-lane proposal for State Highway 46.

WHEREAS, it is vitally important to keep State Highway 46 as a four-lane highway; the drainage, sewer, and lighting is of vital importance for any new construction and the future of the city of Wagner; and

WHEREAS, the four-lane highway plays a pivotal role in tourism, economic development, retail business, access to health care including Indian Health Services, emergency services, public education, elderly living, regional agriculture, and tourism; and

WHEREAS, the four-lane highway has been instrumental in the expansion of commerce in and around Wagner; and

WHEREAS, the four-lane highway has provided a safe, reliable, efficient, and effective means of travel to and through Wagner for almost forty years; and

WHEREAS, the department proposed a plan to convert the current four-lane section of State Highway 46 into two lanes with a third-lane designated for turning; and

WHEREAS, on December 6, 2022, the citizens of Wagner overwhelmingly rejected the Wagner city council’s vote to support the department's three-lane proposal, on August 29, 2022, by a tally of one hundred thirty-three no votes, to sixty-four yes votes; and

WHEREAS, the department's accident rate charts show this stretch of highway is significantly lower compared to similar highways in this state. It does not appear that this proposed highway change will improve safety as the Urban Principal Arterial Crash rate in Wagner from 2015 to 2019 was 1.16 crashes per million vehicle miles traveled while the state average was 1.95; and

WHEREAS, there is only a six percent cost difference between the department's three-lane proposal and maintaining the highway as a four-lane:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Senate of the Ninety-Eighth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, overwhelming public support, as shown by fifteen hundred and sixty-one petition signers, and overwhelming public input, favor the four-lane highway through Wagner; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that that the Senate urges the South Dakota Department of Transportation to reconsider the three-lane proposal for State Highway 46 and keep it a four-lane highway.