Sioux Falls’ metro-area bicycle plan will now include Tea.
City officials showed bicyclists an expanded version of the city’s plans for bike trails in and around Sioux Falls June 22.
Sioux Falls’ first bike path was the Greenway Trail along the Big Sioux River in the 1970s. Since it’s construction, the path has become one of the city’s most recreational spots, linking Sioux Falls parks, Sam Trebilcock, Sioux Falls’ city transportation planner, said.
Now Sioux Falls wants to incorporate paths in the city near Skunk Creek and connect to surrounding communities.
“We thought we would try looking at areas outside of the city of Sioux Falls and also the surrounding cities for how we can make it bicycle-friendly outside the metro area,” Treblicock said.
The city’s plans include three primary and three secondary routes out of the city. Proposed primary routes were Highway 38 from Sioux Falls to Hartford, Highway 115 to Baltic Corner, Rice and Madison streets in Sioux Falls to Brandon and Brandon to Garretson on Highway 11.
Secondary routes would go through Crooks and head to Tea and Harrisburg on county highways.
Treblicock is meeting with city officials from the surrounding communities to find what is feasible for future paths. Decisions would include running a path alongside a county highway or installing a separate path along railroad corridors.
There are two paths up for discussion that would connect the Sioux Falls bike routes to Tea, Planning and Zoning Director Kevin Nissen said. The first is along the west corridor, or Highway 106. The second is a two-mile stretch from Bucksnort Junction to the northeast at 85th Street.
Of the two options, Nissen prefers the second.
“It’s scary when it’s with the road,” Nissen said. “Someone could fall asleep or wander over the line and it wouldn’t be safe for someone pushing a stroller.”
Tea already offers its residents a variety of activities with the Park and Recreation programs, but Nissen said it’s time to offer extended bike paths.
“It’s important to have our own identity,” Nissen said. “We don’t want to be a bedroom community. It’s time to take it to the next level.”
Tea Park and Recreation Board Member Rob Hoffman said there are a lot of residents that run, rollerblade and walk on the streets and sidewalk now. A bike path would make it a lot more safer to do those activities, Hoffman said.
Tea has the beginnings of a bike path that starts at the corner of Kevin Drive and Joseph Avenue and loops around the city park for three-quarters of a mile. As homes are built along Main Street, the city will require developers to extend the path, Nissen said.
Future plans will see the path looping around the city and through the athletic complex that will be built south of the city.
The proposed paths will be presented to the public along with the Tea Comprehensive Plan.
Details are not set in stone, Trebilcock said, but he hopes to have a master plan drawn up some time next year.
A public hearing will take place in August for Tea’s comprehensive plan, Nissen said, with the council voting on the proposal in September.

- Melanie Brandert contributed to this report.