Yankton County Napa Junction Service Road

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In 2015, the South Dakota Transportation Commission granted Yankton County a $6 million State Highway Fund Loan to construct a concrete industrial service road on County Road 210/437th Avenue and 307th Street, and a portion of 436th Avenue. The project connects South Dakota Highway 50 to the new Napa Junction Rail Park, an industrial/commercial development zone located around the state-owned Dakota Southern Railway and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway lines, which run north to Mitchell and points beyond and south to Sioux City and points beyond. The four-mile improvements to the service road include approximately 3.2 miles of Portland cement pavement and 0.8 mile of gravel. To date, the service road provides access to a new $40 million Dakota Plains Ag Center 110-car shuttle train grain facility and agronomy center, as well as a new $25 million dried distillers grain facility. The shuttle train grain facility provides efficient access to rail lines that extend throughout the state, allowing farmers to ship their product across the state and country by rail, thereby removing trucks from state highways. The service road was ineligible for Federal funding and as a result, could not take advantage of loans from the existing South Dakota State Infrastructure Bank. To build the road and catalyze development in the area, Yankton County applied for the state's first ever non-Infrastructure Bank, State Highway Fund Loan, to be repaid through a tax increment financing (TIF) district centered around the growing rail park. The rail park is located in a Yankton County opportunity zone providing other tax incentives to local businesses. In 2017, tax increment proceeds of $125,369 fell short of the required loan payment. However, the structure of the loan agreement requires Dakota Plains Ag Center to make up the difference. It paid an additional $208,981 to Yankton County to cover the county's interest payment. As additional businesses locate to the Napa Junction Rail Park, the agricultural center's tax burden is expected to decline.

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