South Dakota Highway 42 (SD 42) is a segmented
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in southeastern
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...
, United States. The first segment is a highway in
Aurora County. The second and longest is long and connects
Ethan and
Sioux Falls. The final segment connects Sioux Falls to
Iowa Highway 9 southeast of
Rowena
Rowena in the Matter of Britain was the daughter of the purported Anglo-Saxon chief Hengist and wife of Vortigern, "King of the Britons". Presented as a beautiful ''femme fatale'', she won her people the Kingdom of Kent through her treacherous ...
.
Route description
The westernmost segment of SD 42 begins at a junction with
U.S. Route 281
U.S. Route 281 (US 281) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway. At it is the longest continuous three-digit U.S. Route.
The highway's northern terminus is at the International Peace Garden, north of Dunseith, North Dakota, at t ...
(US 281) and travels east through open farmland. This is the shortest of the three segments; it is only about long, and it ends as the roadway crosses from
Aurora County into
Davison County.
The central segment of the highway begins at an intersection with
SD 37 in rural Davison County. It heads east and crosses the
BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
.
Just east of the railroad, the route passes through the town of
Ethan, then enters
Hanson County. About farther east, SD 42 bends slightly to the south and crosses the
James River
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesap ...
. The highway continues east through the flat prairie and enters
McCook County.
About east of the county line, the highway enters the city of
Bridgewater. Here, it curves to the northeast and crosses another branch of the BNSF Railway
before meeting the eastern terminus of
SD 262. SD 42 then curves back to the east and leaves Bridgewater. It continues through flat farmland, intersecting
US 81 and passing over the west fork of the
Vermillion River. The route heads east about before crossing the east fork of the Vermillion River, and then entering
Minnehaha County
Minnehaha County is a county on the eastern border of the state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 197,214, making it the state's most populous county. It contains over 20% of the state's population. Its county seat is ...
.
In Minnehaha County, SD 42 intersects
SD 19, and the two highways run east for about before SD 19 splits off to the north, and SD 42 continues east toward
Sioux Falls. It intersects the northern terminus of
SD 17 approximately west of the city. The central segment of SD 42 ends at Ellis Road near the Sioux Falls city limits.
The easternmost segment of SD 42 begins at Six Mile Road east of the city of Sioux Falls. It runs southeast, concurrent with
SD 11 along Arrowhead Parkway. The two highways pass by a golf course and a park before crossing the
Big Sioux River. East of the river, SD 11 turns to the north toward
Brandon, and SD 42 curves to the east. The highway passes through the
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
of
Rowena
Rowena in the Matter of Britain was the daughter of the purported Anglo-Saxon chief Hengist and wife of Vortigern, "King of the Britons". Presented as a beautiful ''femme fatale'', she won her people the Kingdom of Kent through her treacherous ...
before curving due south and crossing the
Iowa
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
state line. The route continues into Iowa as
Iowa Highway 9.
Major intersections
See also
*
List of state highways in South Dakota
South Dakota's state highways were assigned in a numbering pattern that followed that of the U.S. Highways followed upon their inception. East–west highways carried even numbers and increased from North to South
– while north–south hig ...
References
External links
{{commons category-inline, South Dakota Highway 42
042
Transportation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Transportation in Aurora County, South Dakota
Transportation in Davison County, South Dakota
Transportation in Hanson County, South Dakota
Transportation in McCook County, South Dakota