Question: How long is US Highway 16?

U.S. Route 16


U.S. Route 16 (US16) is an east–west United States Highway between Rapid City, South Dakota and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
As of 2004, the highway's eastern terminus is at a junction with Interstate 90/U.S. Route 14 (I-90/US14), concurrent with I-190, in Rapid City, South Dakota. The western terminus is the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park, concurrent with US14 and US20.
Route description
Wyoming
US16 in Wyoming crosses through the towns of Newcastle and Upton before joining I-90 near Moorcroft.  It runs concurrently with I-90 to Gillette, where it splits off north and then arcs back down to the town of Buffalo.  From Buffalo it goes over the Powder River Pass on its way to Worland.  In Worland, it turns north and overlaps US20 through the towns of Basin and Greybull.  In Greybull, the two routes combine with US14 and go west to Cody and into Yellowstone National Park. For most of the way it is a two-lane road.
South Dakota

US16 is also known as Mount Rushmore Road in western South Dakota. The highway enters South Dakota east of Newcastle, Wyoming. It travels near Jewel Cave, the third-longest cave in the world.[1] The highway goes through the city of Custer and shares alignment with US385. East of Hill City, US16 splits off US385. It then becomes a four-lane divided highway, with the two roadways separated by up to a half-mile (0.8km) in some places, including the old gold-mining town of Rockerville, South Dakota, which is contained entirely between the two roadways.  In Rapid City, a truck bypass runs along Catron Boulevard and Elk Vale Road up to Exit 61 on I-90.
The South Dakota section of US16 is defined at South Dakota Codified Laws § 31-4-138.[2]
History



US16 originally connected Detroit with Yellowstone, including a ferry link across Lake Michigan between Muskegon, Michigan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In Michigan, the route was in use long before automobiles and was known to white settlers as the Grand River Road, and prior to the designation of US Routes in 1926, had been designated as M-16 in the 1920s from Detroit to south of Muskegon.  In 1938, reflectorized discs were placed on US-16 every 100 feet (30m) from Detroit to Lansing, resulting in fewer nighttime traffic accidents.  Other states would later do the same on their roads.
US16 initially crossed the South Dakota– Wyoming state line west of Spearfish. U.S. Route 216 was commissioned in 1930 as a loop off US16 to the south between Rapid City and Moorcroft, crossing the state line west of Custer. In 1934, US16 was moved to the US216 alignment, while the former US16 became part of an extension of US14.
In Michigan, most of US16 was superseded by I-96 and a segment of Grand River Avenue in Detroit ultimately became M-5. US16 was later decommissioned in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and eastern South Dakota to its present termini.[3] Between Rapid City and Dexter, Minnesota, it has been supplanted by I-90. East of there it is now Minnesota State Highway 16 and Wisconsin Highway 16. In South Dakota it was replaced by various state highways (including SD 38 and 248) and county roads: generally, in West River the old alignment was transferred to county responsibility entirely, while in East River it remained a state-maintained highway.
An older Alternate US16 in South Dakota has become South Dakota Highway 240.
In South Dakota, in 2009, the South Dakota Department of Transportation designated US-16/US-385 between Custer and Hill City, which passes by the Crazy Horse Memorial, now being carved in the Black Hills, the Crazy Horse Memorial Highway. This segment of US-385 is also a part of the George Hearst Memorial Highway.
Major intersections
Mileage resets at the state line crossing.

See also
Related routes
U.S. Route 116
U.S. Route 216
Special and suffixed routes
U.S. Route 16A in South Dakota
Special routes of U.S. Route 16



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