Across South Dakota's 77,000 square miles of land, we have just about 84,000 miles of roads, streets, and highways.

Every year people die on those roads. Vehical-related accidents are a leading cause of death in the United States, making our roads one of the most dangerous everyday places we all spend time. In 2020 nearly 40,000 people died on our roads.

Uncovering The Most Dangerous Roads In South Dakota

World Population Review is an organization that digs into the raw data to find interesting and important insights. Looking through car crash stats, they were able to identify the deadliest stretch of road in each of the United States.

The absolute worst place to be driving is in Florida. Highway US 1 is their most dangerous highway, where there is an average of 108 deaths a year.

The safest states are Rhode Island and Alaska. Both averaging only 4 deaths on their most dangerous roads. Well, RI is tiny and hardly anyone lives in Alaska, so I bet that plays a lot into that.

The Deadliest 10 Miles In South Dakota

In South Dakota we are the fourth safest state, averaging only 5.5 deaths on our most dangerous highway overall, U.S. 18.

U.S. Highway 18 runs the length of South Dakota from Wyoming to Iowa across the southern part of the state. It runs through Edgemont in the west, then through Hot Springs, the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations, Winner, and over Fort Randall Dam. It passes through Canton in the Sioux Empire before it crosses the Big Sioux into Iowa.

Gallery Credit: Ben Kuhns

Discover South Dakota's Gigantic Roadside Wonders: A Local's Guide

Bigger is better they say. I suppose that's mostly true. Unless you're talking about a South Dakota blizzard or cold snap. You want those to be as small as possible.

In South Dakota, we have a long tradition of funny and odd roadside attractions. You know, those things that make you pull off the interstate to check out. Near Sioux Falls we have the Porter Sculpture Park just off I-90 near the Montrose exit.


One surefire way to get them tourist dollars is to have something that is the "World's Biggest." And South Dakota has quite a few "World's Biggest" things.

We collected a list of some of South Dakota's "World's Biggest" tourist attractions. They are all man-made statues or sculptures of some kind. Most of them are in SD's premier vacation destination, The Black Hills. You'll find the rest on the way TO the Black Hills.

Let's look up and run down the list:

Gallery Credit: Ben Kuhns

 

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