Iron Creek Tunnel

2 photos · 2019

2 photographs tagged Iron Creek Tunnel, 2019.

Related: Animal Bison Buffalo Custer State Park South Dakota
Vehicle passing through Iron Creek Tunnel, a rock passage in Custer State Park, South Dakota.
Iron Creek Tunnel carries the Needles Highway through a granite outcrop in Custer State Park, South Dakota. The highway was built in the 1920s under the direction of Governor Peter Norbeck, who helped design the route himself to showcase the park's granite spires. Its narrow, low clearance tunnels, blasted by hand rather than heavy machinery, were intentionally sized to slow traffic and frame views of the surrounding rock formations. Custer State Park, established in 1919, spans more than 71,000 acres and is one of the largest state parks in the country.

Car Enters Iron Creek Tunnel, Custer State Park

Stone tunnel with moss-covered walls along Iron Creek in Custer State Park, South Dakota.
Iron Creek Tunnel carries Needles Highway through a granite outcrop in Custer State Park. The road was built in the 1920s under the direction of South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck, who laid out the route on foot and horseback to highlight the Black Hills' granite spires. Norbeck designed several tunnels along the highway to frame views of Mount Rushmore and the surrounding needle rock formations, and Iron Creek Tunnel remains one of the narrower passages on the route, cut directly through native granite rather than lined with concrete. The highway connects to the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, a National Scenic Byway that also links to Custer State Park's Wildlife Loop Road.

Inside Iron Creek Tunnel, Custer State Park, South Dakota

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