Artifacts delay highway project

By Steve Miller, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, April 07, 2005

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Discovery of a campsite used by ancient hunters has delayed work on a stretch of the Heartland Expressway for at least a year.

The site, along a creek bed between Buffalo Gap and Maverick Junction, was found last year during a routine cultural-resources survey that preceded construction of the Heartland Expressway. Archaeologists estimated the site at 9,000 to 12,000 years old.

The Heartland project is turning S.D. Highway 79 into a four-lane road from Rapid City to at least Maverick Junction and perhaps all the way to the Nebraska border.

The stretch of the Heartland Expressway between Buffalo Gap and Maverick Junction east of Hot Springs had been scheduled for grading this year. But grading won't be done until officials determine how to handle the archaeological site to comply with National Environmental Policy Act requirements, according to Todd Seaman, regional engineer in the state Department of Transportation's Rapid City office.

Seaman said he hopes grading can be done on that stretch of road next year.

However, paving should begin Monday on the 12-mile stretch of the Heartland Expressway between Fairburn and Buffalo Gap, Seaman said. Concrete paving should be finished by about June 1, weather permitting, with a few more days to build shoulders on the new highway, he said.

That means the Heartland Expressway will have four lanes of traffic from Rapid City to Buffalo Gap by early to mid-June.

After that stretch is paved, no more work will be done on the new highway this year, Seaman said.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com