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BRIDGES: Beaver Creek Bridge in South Dakota

Today we're in South Dakota. I have actually been on this bridge, which is not something I can claim about the three previous bridges.




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I quite enjoyed the Black Hills of South Dakota. It's beautiful and the ride through Custer State Park is an adventure when you go through some of the tunnels. I watched a tour bus come through a particularly narrow tunnel. The driver first got out on the other side, pushed in his mirrors, then started inching through the tunnel. I was standing with a group of people and we all stared in disbelief that he was attempting this. When the bus finally got through we all waved at the driver and passengers and they waved back at us. Later on down the road I was able to talk to the driver who told me he did this every week, multiple times, and had never hit the side. I told him, "You're a better man than me Gunga Din."

And now a little historical perspective about the bridge.

The Beaver Creek Bridge spans one of two perennial streams that flow into Wind Cave National Park. It is a deck arch bridge built of concrete and steel. It is 225 feet (69m) long and sits 115 feet (35m) above the canyon floor. The purpose of constructing the bridge in 1929 was to provide travelers a more suitable access to the newly developing Custer State Park to the north of Wind Cave National Park.

One of the significant accomplishments of the builders of the bridge was to create the illusion that the concrete arches rise naturally from the rock walls on opposite sides of the canyon. The nature of this bridge makes it historically significant. It is the only bridge of its particular arch type in the State of South Dakota. It is also only one of three "most significant bridges" in the Rocky Mountain region of the National Park System. Construction of this bridge was made possible through the efforts of Peter Norbeck, U.S. Senator from South Dakota. Senator Norbeck was also involved with the development of Custer State Park and scenic highways within the Black Hills. (SOURCE: National Park Service)

To see previous posts about bridges click on "bridge" in the labels below.