Sturgis motorcycle rally plans announced

| Saturday, June 24, 2006

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STURGIS (AP) — The Sturgis motorcycle rally is six weeks away, and planners are gearing up for the hundreds of thousands of bikers expected to attend the week long event.

The Sturgis rally’s attendance may be down a bit, based on recent attendance at a similar event at Laconia, N.H., Lisa Weyer, Sturgis rally director, said.

“Laconia motorcycle rally week just wrapped up last weekend. Their numbers were down. I received a report from the organizer of that rally. They’re (attributing) that to the economy, gas prices and so forth, and we did expect to see some of that. I think our numbers may be down a little bit,” Weyer said.

The annual rally officially begins Aug. 7 and runs through Aug. 13.

Last year, officials estimated the rally attracted more than 525,000 people to the region.

Several new music venues have been added this year, and organizers say big-name bands should help attract people.

Because of new concert venues east of Sturgis, the state Department of Transportation is installing new traffic signals for the area.

“With the new activities that are out that direction, we’re fearful that the normal stop sign for Highway 79 as it approaches may not completely handle things, so the signal system will be there,” Dan Staton of the South Dakota DOT said.

The DOT also said that construction on Exit 32 on I-90 is expected to end before motorcycles to start arriving.

Officials say traffic may be a little smoother this year because of a new AM radio transmitter installed by the state that will provide travelers with area road and traffic information.

It’s called HAR.

“It stands for highway advisory radio,” Staton said. “It is a trailer-mounted, totally self-sufficient unit that we can put prerecorded messages into.”

Bikers and motorists can tune their AM radios to 1610 and 1620.

The transmitter will have a range of about 30 miles.