BROOKINGS – Brookings County Sheriff Marty Stanwick wants the state to study U.S. Highway 14 in Volga following an accident in the community last month.

On April 9, a girl was riding her bike and crossed the intersection of Kasan Avenue and Highway 14 in Volga. According to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, she entered the intersection at about 5:20 p.m., and a person driving a 2021 Jeep Cherokee could not stop in time, striking the girl on the bike.

The girl was taken to the Brookings hospital and was later airlifted to Sioux Falls with serious, non-life-threatening injuries.

“There wasn’t a lot of traffic at that particular time,” Stanwick told the Brookings County Commission May 3. “But that has brought that the Volga City Council requested we do a study.”

Stanwick explained that the study should be both a traffic and pedestrian study.

“I’ve requested the state to do what we did at the Aurora (corner) and put up some cameras,” Stanwick said. “How do we get a real good idea of what the pedestrian traffic is unless we have some cameras up there? So I hope they will do that.”

The Kasan Avenue “intersection” isn’t a traditional intersection. Kasan Avenue connects with Highway 14 from the south, and on the other side of the highway is the parking lot to Dollar General. This leads to a decent amount of people crossing the highway on foot, especially during the summer. Volga also has an ordinance for golf carts so licensed drivers can drive a golf cart on municipal streets, Stanwick said.

“What happens is you have a 16-year-old on a golf cart and they’ve got six kids hanging on it as they go across,” Stanwick said. “Pedestrian traffic has increased there.”

Stanwick asked if the commission would be willing to send a letter to the state requesting a study as well. He explained that it took a very long time for the state to study the Aurora corner, so more letters requesting a study could help expedite the process.

“I think all the help we can get would be good,” Stanwick said. 

Stanwick explained that now is a good time for study because things have changed in Volga. There is now a Casey’s General Store, which is a truck stop, Dollar General and an Ace Hardware on the north side of the highway, which has led to more traffic. 

Stanwick said his office wanted to use a drone to show the increase in both pedestrian and car traffic, but due to how windy the spring has been, they haven’t been able to.

“I think this is a compelling case for why some of those Safe Streets programs could be really valuable to the rural outlining communities as a part of Brookings County if we did a combined effort,” Commissioner Angela Boersma said. “I don’t know that a letter back to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) is going to do what we anticipate it would. I’m not opposed to the idea, but DOT’s primary concern is thinking about traffic studies, not pedestrian safety at those types of instances.”

Contact Addison DeHaven at adehaven@brookingsregister.com.