South Dakota Highway 79 (SD 79) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in western

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

, United States, that runs from Maverick Junction near the

Black Hills National Forest Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, United States. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres (5,066 km²) and is managed by the Forest Service. Forest headquarters are located ...

to the

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

state line.

Route description

SD 79's southern terminus is at Maverick Junction near

Hot Springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

, where it meets US 18 and US 385. SD 79 runs east of the Black Hills to

Rapid City Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

, where it joins US Route 16 Truck Bypass around the east side of Rapid City up to Interstate 90. The road continues north and runs concurrently with US 14 and Interstate 90 westbound toward Sturgis. Leaving Sturgis, SD 79 leads to

Bear Butte Bear Butte is a geological laccolith feature located near Sturgis, South Dakota, United States, that was established as a State Park in 1961. An important landmark and religious site for the Plains Indians tribes long before Europeans reached Sout ...

State Park and briefly runs concurrently with

U.S. Route 212 U.S. Route 212 (US 212) is a spur of U.S. Route 12, US 12. It runs for from Yellowstone National Park to Minnesota State Highway 62 (Hennepin–Dakota counties), Minnesota Highway 62 at Edina, Minnesota. It does not intersect US 12 no ...

south of Newell. Near North Dakota, the highway passes through the South Dakota portion of

Custer National Forest Custer National Forest is located primarily in the south central part of the U.S. state of Montana but also has separate sections in northwestern South Dakota. With a total area of , the forest comprises over 10 separate sections. While in the wes ...

. SD 79 then joins SD 20 for a short concurrent run, and finally turns northward until it reaches North Dakota.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, South Dakota Highway 79

079 79 may refer to: * 79 (number) * one of the years 79 BC, AD 79, 1979, 2079 * ''79 A.D.'', a 1962 historical epic film * Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79, a catastrophic volcanic eruption in Italy See also

* * List of highways numbered {{Num ...

Transportation in Fall River County, South Dakota Transportation in Custer County, South Dakota Transportation in Pennington County, South Dakota Transportation in Meade County, South Dakota Transportation in Butte County, South Dakota Transportation in Harding County, South Dakota