Jan. 29, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Knife River South Dakota.

It’s not typical to still be making asphalt in December, but that’s how the year ended at the Knife River plant in Sioux Falls.

“There have been times we’ve had to shut down the second week in October, and instead they were working up until Christmas,” president Clark Meyer said. “Water wasn’t freezing. Customers can pour concrete and do dirt work, and they were able to get work done they didn’t anticipate.”

The strong end to 2023 capped a year of solid activity for Knife River.

“We had a great year, supporting iconic projects like the Sioux Falls Public Safety Campus, Midco Arena for Augustana hockey, Cherapa Place, The Steel District and the parking ramp at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport,” Meyer said.

Because those huge developments don’t arrive every year, Meyer has tempered some expectations for this year.

“I’m not predicting a boom, but I still think it will be steady growth,” he said. “Our customers are telling us they have a good workload this year, so that’s encouraging.”

Continued federal investment in infrastructure is driving demand for construction materials, he said.

“There are going to be nice public works projects over the year, with a lot of work on roads and bridges,” he said.

“We currently have a few large commercial projects planned, but not as many as 2023.”

Work continues at the Sioux Falls Water Reclamation project and at the new Sanford Orthopedic Hospital.

New projects under construction include the Orthopedic Institute at 85th Street and Interstate 29, South Dakota One-Stop at Dawley Farm Village and Jacobson Plaza in downtown Sioux Falls

“We’re anticipating working on these projects and a variety of others, including on the residential side,” Meyer said. “I think we’ll see more multifamily but also more homes beginning to be built as interest rates moderate.”

Knife River has moved its portable ready-mix concrete plant to Harrisburg to support the massive paving operation required for the construction of Veterans Parkway between Cliff and Western avenues.

“The market keeps growing in that area, so we want to be prepared to support it, and then we’ve also had requests in the Sioux City market, so we’ll be supporting that area with a ready-mix plant. We have an office and a team there, so it makes sense to take that next step and continue to serve the Sioux City metro area.”

Knife River’s team will continue to grow this year, Meyer added.

“We’ve had some retirements and are welcoming some new team members,” he said. “We’ve had pretty good luck finding people. We also made a commitment to retain the great team we have by staying competitive on wages, and we’ve focused on our culture, and I think people are responding to it.”

To learn more about the services offered by Knife River in Sioux Falls and beyond, click here.