End of US highway 216

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info on this page is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: me

The highway scene used to be very different in the Black Hills region. When the US routes were first implemented, US 14 didn't even make it that far west. And US 16 didn't go through the Hills like it does now; instead, it followed the route of today's US 14/I-90 around the northern edge of the Hills. So in 1930, US 216 was designated to serve as a shortcut between US 16 at Moorcroft and US 85 at Newcastle. To a driver heading east on US 16 in Moorcroft, this is what they would've seen at the west beginning of US 216:

me, Mar. 2004

Today that's eastbound on US 14/16, and the two routes split here. But originally, this was just US 16, and eastbound continued to the left. Straight ahead was east on US 216. Heading the opposite direction (west) on US 16 would've looked like this:

me, Mar. 2004

Westbound US 16 went right (as it still does), but left was eastbound on US 216. This last shot shows the perspective from the west end of US 216:

me, Mar. 2004

West on US 16 was ahead, but east on US 16 was right.

Originally the east end of US 85 was in Newcastle WY. Today the equivalent junction there looks like this:

me, Mar. 2004

That's looking east on modern US 16. But when it was US 216 that was here, this portion of the highway hadn't been built, and this segment of US 85 is a newer road too. Originally US 85 came into town from the south via Summit Avenue. At Wentworth Street, it turned right to climb out of town, and US 216 began by continuing straight ahead on Summit:

me, Mar. 2004

That's looking north on Summit at Wentworth. Northbound US 85 went right here, and US 216 began ahead. Today Summit is officially Business 16, although the signs I observed still make it look like it's still the mainline. Here's another view of the intersection where US 216 ended:

me, Mar. 2004

That's southbound on Summit. US 216 ended here - northbound US 85 was left, and southbound was straight ahead. Below we're looking south on Wentworth (old southbound US 85):

me, Mar. 2004

US 85 continued to the left, while right was the east beginning of US 216.

In 1933 the US 216 designation was extended east from Newcastle, via what is now US 16 through Custer SD. East of there it continued via modern Alt. US 16 and SD hwy. 36 to Hermosa; then north via SD 79 to Rapid City. Best I can tell, US 16 back then made a turn from East Boulevard to Main Street, and so US 216 would've ended at that corner. The photo below is looking west on Main, which is also northbound US 79:

me, Mar. 2004

I think westbound US 16 would've come in from the right on East Blvd, then continued straight ahead. If so, then this would've been the perspective of a driver at the east end of US 216... which is kind of odd, because we're heading west here. Below is another perspective - this is heading north on East Blvd:

me, Mar. 2004

I believe eastbound US 16 was straight ahead, westbound was to the left, and westbound US 216 was to the right (you can't go that way today, because Main is one-way westbound, but it probably served both directions back in the 1930's). Since there's no signage looking east on Main, I took the photo below of the modern equivalent:

me, Mar. 2004

The detour signs posted when I was there don't make this any easier to explain. Usually southbound SD 79 is straight ahead. This is looking east on St. Joseph Street, which is Main's eastbound counterpart. That's today's equivalent of historic eastbound US 16, which continued to the left on East Blvd. Ahead was the east beginning of US 216 (SD 79 soon curves southward to Hermosa).

If you have evidence of historic highway routings in Rapid City other than what I've set forth here, please let me know!

US 216 didn't last long in Rapid City. As soon as the next year, the US 14 designation was extended west along what had been US 16 through the Northern Hills, and US 16 was rerouted to go through Custer, such that it swallowed up what had been US 216 from Rapid City all the way to Moorcroft.