Black Hills highway closure to upend summer holiday traffic

MAY 28, 2024:

PACTOLA RESERVOIR, S.D. (AP) — A section of the only north-south highway through the central Black Hills has closed for construction through July 12, 2024, cutting off a major transportation and tourism pipeline in the area. The South Dakota Department of Transportation closed the highway just north of the Pactola Reservoir as part of a $72 million project to rebuild 15 miles of the highway, which a high rate of crashes and fatalities. The hourlong official detour requires people to drive through Rapid City to get around the highway closure near Pactola. The road is also a pipeline to Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Crazy Horse Memorial and helps fuel a regional tourism industry.

 

DECEMBER 12, 2023:

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $66.7 million ($66,743,607) in monies from the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program for the US 385 Safety Improvements project in Pennington County.

The work includes constructing approximately 15 miles of highway safety improvements on US 385 from Sheridan Lake to the Pennington/Lawrence County Line. Improvements include widening the shoulder, providing a 30-foot clear zone, addressing deficient horizontal and vertical curves, replacing four major drainage structures, installing two grade separated trail crossings, replacing and extending drainage pipes and surfacing.

US 385 is the principal north-south route through the Black Hills. This improvement project will also improve access to a variety of recreational sites such as the Black Hills National Forest, National Parks/National Park Service Monuments and South Dakota State Park sites. This project will address deficiencies that have contributed to a high number of automobile and motorcycle crashes in segments of the project area.

This is one of 18 projects receiving a total of $645.3 million to help communities around the United States complete transportation projects that will increase mobility, improve safety, and generate regional economic growth in rural areas.

Rural roads face a disproportionally high rate of fatalities, and a significant proportion of rural roads and bridges are in poor condition. USDOT says these grants will improve the safety and reliability of movement of people and freight, as well as improve quality of life for rural residents, through investment in critical roads, bridges and other transportation systems.

This is the second year for the Rural Program, which invests a total of approximately $2 billion through 2026 for projects that improve highways, bridges, and tunnels, address highway safety, increase access to agricultural, commercial, energy, or freight facilities, and bring flexible transit services to rural and Tribal areas. More information and a full list of this year’s Rural grant recipients are available on the US DOT website.