Topic summary
Needles Highway
Extracted from the Wikipedia article South Dakota Highway 87.
Needles Highway
After splitting from US 16A, the route is known as the Needles Highway. This segment is 14 miles (23 km) long. Finished in 1922, the highway is named after the high granite "needles" it winds among. The portion of the Needles Highway between the intersection with SD 89 and the intersection with US-16A runs through Custer State Park, and requires an annual South Dakota park license granting access to all state parks, recreation areas and lakeside use areas. Along this stretch lies the Black Hills Playhouse. The highway passes through two tunnels blasted through sheer granite walls — Iron Creek Tunnel and Needles Eye Tunnel. That part of the road is almost exclusively used by sightseers.