Needles Eye Tunnel Along Needles Highway, Custer State Park

Needles Eye Tunnel, a narrow granite passage on Needles Highway in Custer State Park, South Dakota.
Needles Eye Tunnel, a narrow granite passage on Needles Highway in Custer State Park, South Dakota.

The Needles Eye Tunnel carries South Dakota Highway 87 through a granite spire along the Needles Highway in Custer State Park. Governor Peter Norbeck laid out the highway's route on foot in the early 1920s, insisting the road be cut directly through the rock rather than routed around it. Engineer Scovel Johnson completed the tunnel in 1922, cutting it just eight feet nine inches wide to match the width of a car of the era. The tunnel takes its name from a needle-like granite formation nearby. Custer State Park, established in 1919, encompasses more than 71,000 acres of the Black Hills.

Photo taken in July 2019.

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South Dakota
Badlands, Black Hills, and Custer State Park across multiple trips
26 photos
Custer State Park
Bison along Wildlife Loop Road, granite spires on the Needles Highway, and trails to Black Elk Peak in the Black Hills
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