BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) -- A proposed north-south expressway through western North Dakota and northwestern South Dakota will be promoted in South Dakota in August.
T.C. Rolfstad of Williston, N.D., who is working for the proposed Theodore Roosevelt Expressway, said he will be in Rapid City, Sturgis, Spearfish and Belle Fourche to promote the corridor.
Williston and Dickinson, N.D., have kicked in $160,000 over the next four years to promote the expressway.
Getting federal recognition as a priority corridor could give the expressway priority over many other projects, officials have said.
There is no major north-south route between Interstates 25 and 29, said Pat McElgunn, public affairs director of the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce. So he said it makes sense to develop the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway, which would connect at Rapid City to the Heartland Expressway, then from Denver to Texas.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It was clearly obvious that something like this is long overdue," McElgunn said, adding that South Dakota's challenge "is getting from Belle Fourche to the North Dakota line."
It will be more of a challenge than just replacing the current U.S. Highway 85 with a four-lane roadbed, he said.
Including the route from Texas ports to Canada through Denver and Rapid City makes good sense, McElgunn said. "Our objective would be to build a four-lane divided highway. But we may have to settle for incremental progress."
Supporters pointed out that it took years for the Heartland Expressway south of Rapid City to get the first four-lane leg to Hermosa.
"The Theodore Roosevelt Expressway is where we were with the Heartland Expressway in the late 1980s and 1990s in terms of its developmental stages," McElgunn added.
