Highway Maintenance – Black Hills style
Several years ago – out in Spearfish Canyon - two HUGE boulders broke loose from the canyon wall and came rumbling down, eventually splashing to a stop in Spearfish Creek below. They’re known locally as the Kissing Rocks.
Thankfully, no vehicles were in their path. Rumor has it, however, that a couple of unsuspecting deer weren’t quite so lucky.
In order to keep all Black Hills visitors and residents safe, road and engineering crews are always on the lookout for potential rock slide areas near roadways.
A possible hazard area was recently identified on Highway 14-A between Deadwood and Central City in the northern hills, near the Broken Boot Gold Mine.
From what I’ve been told, the entire rock wall along that stretch of road had been weathered pretty heavily by repetitive freezing and thawing during the past winter. But, there was one particularly large rock up along the top ledge that was crumbling and cause for concern.
So, crews are now hard at work blasting and excavating that area to keep folks safe.
I went up to the blasting area today for a while to see the process with my own eyes.
Small sections would be broken up with explosives. Then, heavy equipment would move the remnants away one load at a time. The top ledge would be cleared and the whole process would begin again.
From the ground, it looked to be a very well-orchestrated, yet fairly tedious project. It kind of got me thinking about the absolute enormity of mountain carving projects like Mount Rushmore National Memorial or Crazy Horse Memorial – but I’ll save those musings for another day.
It was fascinating work to watch and it’s easy to see how it will make that section of road safer for those who travel it.
The blasting and excavation in that area will continue for a few more weeks and are expected to be complete by the end of May. In the meantime, though, traffic delays in that area are to be expected.
So, if you’re planning to be in the Lead and Deadwood areas in the next few weeks, be sure to plan ahead and possibly use another route between the two towns – unless, like me, you’re curious how the whole thing works and just want to hear a big BOOM!
