Mitchell Tech resumes work on ongoing $5.8 million drainage project
Mar. 31—MITCHELL — Mitchell Technical College has seen its fair share of construction work on campus over the past several years. Just about a year ago the school dedicated its new Ag Power Diesel Lab building, a 36,000-square foot facility that expanded the available for the ag diesel program and free up space for other programs.
Now with springlike weather arriving, the school is resuming another large-scale campus project. Excavators and workers on site are working on the second phase of a three-year drainage enhancement project.
"We had ARPA funding to address drainage issues on campus, and this is Phase 2," Theresa Kriese, interim president of Mitchell Technical College, told the Mitchell Republic.
Using American Rescue Plan Act funds from the State of South Dakota, Mitchell Tech is working on a three-phase drainage improvement project to protect campus buildings and equipment from catastrophic water events. Phase 1, enclosing the drainage ditch between the Nordby Trade Center and the energy field, was started in 2023. The project is now in Phase 2, which will reroute drainage from the Muth Electric Technology Center and the Campus Tech Apartments to the retention pond on the north side of campus.
Work will focus on the retention pond, where excavators and crews can be seen working from Interstate 90.
The work is necessary in part because of the many changes that have taken place on campus since the school moved from its original location across the street from the current Mitchell High School building to its current location just south of Interstate 90 in 2001. Since more buildings and facilities have been built in the past two-and-half-decades, the campus runoff needs to be redesigned to keep up with new flow patterns.
"They will be draining and cleaning out the retention pond, as well as elongating it and deepening it," Kriese said. "They will also be working to get better drainage on the part of campus that goes under the interstate into the Jim River, which needs a little work. When the pond was developed, we didn't have as much real estate developed, and there are a lot more hard surfaces for runoff instead of absorption."
The school has been using ARPA funds for the project. About $5.8 million of those funds is expected to be used across the entire three-year drainage project, with about $2.3 million to be used during the current Phase 2 part of the project, which is expected to continue through the fall of 2025. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill that provided $350 billion for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With dry conditions and relatively little snow falling during the winter of 2024-25, Kriese said the work has progressed nicely.
"It's been really good. One of the benefits of the dry and moderate weather this past winter is we've been able to get in earlier than expected," Kriese said.
Work is also expected to be done on sidewalks around campus and to MTI Drive, for which the school recently petitioned to have the name changed to Mitchell Tech Drive, to improve drainage along the main eastside entrance into campus. That work will entail resurfacing the street and making sure the slope is appropriate to handle water moving alongside it.
The work may not be as exciting as seeing a new diesel building rising on campus, but the work is crucial, Kriese said. As new buildings go up and other changes are made to the appearance of the school property, drainage needs have changed in tandem. Kriese said that water had not caused any significant issues on campus outside inconvenience, but doing work now is important to making sure problems don't become worse.
Without staying in front of the problem, the campus could experience water in its buildings, or even just standing on campus, Kriese said.
"If it hadn't been addressed (we could experience) building water penetration, and standing water is not a good situation on any campus. It was definitely necessary. Each (previous) project that we've done has impacted the campus, and now it's time to address the entire thing to make sure we have it addressed," Kriese said.
Work will continue into the summer and next year, Kriese said, but it won't be the end of ground work at Mitchell Tech. Kriese said that in the next few days the state will be releasing a notification for bids to the
school's planned underground energy training facility.
That new facility will encompass about 23,000 feet and is associated with the Powerline Program at Mitchell Tech. It will give a boost of about 75 jobs in the region.
In addition to the benefits to the programs at Mitchell Tech and the addition of new jobs to the market, students in the Powerline Program will gain the advantage of a modern educational environment for their studies that will be accessible year-round, including during frosty South Dakota winters when the ground is frozen.
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