South Dakota Highway 240

Highway 240
Badlands Loop
Route information
Defined by SDCL §31-4-216
Maintained by SDDOT
Length: 40.033 mi[1] (64.427 km)
Major junctions
West end: I-90 at Wall
  SD 377 at Badlands National Park
East end: I-90
Highway system

South Dakota numbered highways

← SD 239 SD 244 →

South Dakota Highway 240, (SD 240) the "Badlands Loop", is located in southeast Pennington and northwest Jackson Counties of southwestern South Dakota. It runs through the eastern portion of the Badlands National Park.

Contents

Route description

SD 240 begins in Wall at exit 109 of Interstate 90 (I-90). From this point, it travels south to Badlands National Park, where it turns southeast. At the Badlands Headquarters at Cedar Pass, South Dakota 240 turns northeast, ending at exit 131 of I-90 near Cactus Flat. The total length of South Dakota 240 is 40 miles (64 km). Because South Dakota 240 enters a national park, there is an entrance fee at either side of the park. The fee is $10 per passenger vehicle, good for 7 days.

History

Eastern portions of the route that are currently SD 240 (generally from the park headquarters to Cactus Flat) were originally part of the original alignment of SD 40. Construction began in the early 1930s. By 1944, a gravel surface was on Badlands Loop alignment, and by the late 1940s, the Badlands Loop was signed as U.S. Highway 16 Alternate (US 16 Alt.), in addition to SD 40 along the eastern portion of the Loop. These two numbers were used until the early 1970s, when the SD 40 number was replaced by an extension of SD 44 (which entered the park from the southeast rather than the northeast).

Around 1980, US 16, which ran concurrently with Interstate 90, was truncated at its eastern end to Rapid City. Since the US 16 Alternate no longer met the parent route, the route number was changed to SD 240.

Major intersections

County Location Mile[1] Destinations Notes
Pennington
 Wall 0.000 I-90 / US 14  
Jackson
 Badlands National Park 31.512 SD 377 south  
  40.033 I-90  
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. ^ a b "Transportation Inventory Management". South Dakota Department of Transportation. http://www.sddot.com/pe/data/pave.asp. Retrieved December 17, 2011. 

External links