Crescent Street Bridge project plans moving ahead

Ribbon cutting ceremony

Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 1 p.m.

Crescent Street Bridge. Flandreau

By Carleen Wild
Moody County Enterprise

After more than a decade of questions about what might happen to revitalize the area around the Flandreau Dam — and dreaming about what might be possible — the community may soon have some answers.
This Wednesday, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe (Wakpa Ipaksan Dakota Oyate) will host a ribbon cutting ceremony at 1 p.m. to officially announce federal funding for the Crescent Street Bridge Project and outline next steps for the effort.
For years, community members have advocated for reconnecting downtown with the recreational area around the dam and the Flandreau Indian School.
The original Crescent Street Bridge was built in 1935 as part of a New Deal project under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It quickly became an important link between the Flandreau Indian School and the community.
But safety concerns were raised more than a decade ago, with few agreeing on what to do next given the growing cost of repairing the structure. So it sat.
In 2022, after inking a partnership with the Tribe and working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the State of South Dakota, the closed and aging structure was torn down. But the initiative and interest to replace it with another connecting element never disappeared.
Tribal and city leaders have worked together in recent years to move the project forward, and this week that next step will be celebrated. Local leaders, project partners and community members are invited to attend the ceremony at the bridge site.
The proposed vehicle and pedestrian bridge aims to again improve transportation safety, accessibility and connectivity between the communities that call Flandreau home.
Funding for the bridge was secured through the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Transportation Bridge Program, which provides federal funding to improve bridges and transportation infrastructure serving tribal communities.
Construction is currently anticipated to begin in spring 2027.