BELLE FOURCHE - It won't be ready for the Black Hills Roundup, but the two major routes into Wyoming and Montana from Belle Fourche should have newly paved surfaces before the Sturgis motorcycle rally begins.

Les Hermann, engineering supervisor for the Belle Fourche area office of the South Dakota Department of Transportation, said pilot cars will help move rodeo fans to and from the big rodeo that begins next week.

Work continues on U.S. Highway 212, between the Wyoming state line and Belle Fourche. Crews are paving about 8 miles of road, and a pilot car guides traffic.

On Highway 212 east of Belle Fourche, work has been delayed. The highway should have its surface milled and replaced with a new asphalt overlay.

"That could and should have been started, but we had some materials issues," Hermann said.

"With all this wet weather, the pits around here have a lot of moisture, and it's hard to get material that meets state requirements."

Between milling the surface down half an inch to an inch, then replacing it with a smooth new surface, the project will begin as soon as the contractor can secure the type of gravel needed.

It may be complete before the rally, Hermann said, "Hopefully, but no guarantee."

S.D. Highway 34 to the Wyoming state line is an especially popular route to Devils Tower and Hulett's Ham N Jam during the rally for bikers and other tourists.

For that route, Hermann said, the DOT hopes to have the milling down on the current surface by Monday, June 29. They would give them two weeks to complete the overlay.

"It'd better be done by the rally," Hermann said.

The material pulled from the old road surface may be a bit lumpy compared to the new surface that will be installed, but the petroleum-based paving material isn't dumped.

"They will reuse some of that material in the mix for the new surface," Hermann said.

That helps strengthen the new surface.

Much of the rest will be used to improve approaches and mailbox turnouts.

North of Belle Fourche on U.S. Highway 85, "We will have some chip seal projects going on up there, probably within the next couple of weeks."