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Favorite bridges; bridges of Iron Mountain Road, Black Hills, South Dakota

A trip to Sturgis, South Dakota during the annual rally is often a dream ride for motorcyclists, as it was for me in August, 2007.  While there, I had the opportunity to ride Iron Mountain Road to Mt. Rushmore, and as I have an uncanny fascination with bridges, this ride allowed me to see some small, but unique bridges such as the pigtail bridges and narrow one lane tunnels on the Needles Highway.  Iron Mountain Road, or Hwy 16A  is a scenic highway through the Black Hills.  "The Iron Mountain portion of the road is not maintained in the winter. The road, like several other scenic roads in the Black Hills, was originally laid out by Governor Peter Norbeck, specifically to create a very scenic, slow-speed road for tourists. The section of US 16A from SD 89 to SD 244 is known as the Peter Norbeck Memorial Byway in honor of the governor.[1] At the highest point of the byway, there is a small memorial to Governor Norbeck." 

The twisty, hairpin turns coupled with thousands of motorcycles traveling the road during the rally makes this dangerous, so let me warn you, it is not a road for the novice rider. 

Iron Mountain Road

*1 http://www.northernplainshighways.org/sdakota/sd1-30.html#US-16A

If you like twisty roads and beautiful scenery, don't miss the opportunity to travel Iron Mountain Road and cross the pigtail bridges.

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, Shreveport Motorcycle Travel Examiner

Mary's passion is riding her Harley-Davidson every day. She has logged over 100,000 miles on the road, and knows some great rides, wonderful places to eat, and sites to see. Email Mary at maric12@gmail.com.

Comments

  • Patty Davis 2 years ago

    Good review of bridges. Finally one that I've been on. We did the pigtails in 2006 but it wasn't during rally time. Even still there were plenty of motorcyclists enjoying the Black Hills, the twisties, and the pigtails.

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