Rapid City business owner urges city help after semis block Sixth Street access

Jody Fry, owner of Roger Fry's Paint and Supply on Sixth Street, told the Rapid City Public Works Committee during public comment on April 1 that semi‑truck staging and construction parking on Sixth Street and adjacent Kansas City Street are preventing customers from reaching her storefront and are blocking alley access.

“This has gone on all day long, and it has for well over a year and a half,” Fry said, describing semis parked in both northbound and southbound lanes and construction workers’ vehicles occupying about “90% of the parking.” She said loading trucks and semis often queue on the South Side of Kansas City Street to unload in front of her store and that customers who manage to park often cannot exit because semis pull in behind them.

Fry said she had provided pictures to staff and called the police, who have responded, but she asked the committee for help to prevent the continual lane and alley blockages. She also raised a fire‑safety concern, saying a fire truck could not reach the store when the alley was blocked.

Fry asked the committee to seek cooperation from the neighboring business (identified in her remarks as “Lloyd’s”) and to prevent continued use of the south side of Sixth Street for deliveries and staging. She said the business has been in Rapid City 42 years and described the situation as harming customer access and increasing street‑damage costs that will fall to taxpayers.

The committee accepted Fry’s comments during public comment; staff and council members did not make a formal motion at the meeting to address the complaint, but Fry said she would continue to call police when blockages occur.