I just spent the weekend out west with some friends and as promised I am coming back with a road report.
Going out we took a route that may be different from some.
We left Brookings headed west on Hwy 14. It was good with the exception of about 10 miles of repaving between Miller and Highmore. There was a few miles of road that was a milled surface but was clean and safe for normal speeds.
I received a report from a friend telling me that after we went through they put down about 12 miles of fresh oil and chip seal east of Pierre on Hwy 14 but this was not the case when we went through on Thursday so I am uncertain.
From Pierre we rolled Hwy 34 to Sturgis. Can't do this on 1 tank for most of us and it meant finding gas in between. The fuel gauge puts you in Union Center but be aware they have only 85 or 87 with ethanol. So we put on 1 gallon each to get us to Sturgis.
3 weeks prior to rally and we found no issues with getting through Sturgis. They had a few construction cones up in a couple places but there was nothing actually being done so I can't say if it was a project or potentially just for directing traffic.

Big traffic issue in Deadwood. 85 coming into town from the South is a nightmare that I hope they finish by the rally. It was dug up but open. But it was DIRT. They had a water truck going over it to keep dust down so for us it was MUD.

The rest of our time was split between Wyoming and Southern hills. No major issues to report. Iron Mtn Road through the Black Hills has been recently repaved and was beautiful and smooth.

Coming back we wanted to blast so we chose I90. East of Rapid City there is repaving going on so both sides are down to one lane. I can't speak for the west bound lane but the east bound lane had a nasty groove on the outside where they didn't roll the asphalt out evenly and it caused us to ride single file along the inside of the lane for quite a few miles. I would suspect you could expect the same thing west bound or at least be prepared for it.

If you have questions please ask and I will do my best to help if I can.

 

Good info, thanks

 

End of June I was in Deadwood. Talked to one of the flaggirls, she said they were on track to be done with 85 on Aug 1st, IF they had no more rain delays. Cutting it a little close for the rally.

 

Thanks for the report.

 

Thank you

 

I found this website in a different thread. Gives updates on road construction in South Dakota.

http://www.safetravelusa.com/sd/

 

I live here and use that site frequently. You can click on the construction section and it will give you detail on what is being done and in some cases project completion dates