WOOD, (KCCR) –The South Dakota Department of Transportation has finished a project to put a hard surface down on one of the state’s few gravel state highways. An 11 mile stretch of Highway 53 in Mellette County was upgraded this year from gravel to asphalt. It extends from the junction with South Dakota Highway 44 between Wood and Mosher north to Badnation Corner. The two-point-nine million dollar project included additional base material, a full depth reclamation, blotter surfacing on nine miles and the use of an Otta Seal on two remaining miles. The project leaves a 14-mile segment of Highway 53 north of Highway 44 as gravel. An eight-mile segment from I-90 at Vivian south is also paved with a hard surface. A second section of Highway 53 extends from U-S Highway 18 west of Jordan Junction. As of 2020, South Dakota had 81 miles of gravel state highways or less than one-percent of the state’s highway system.
