Asphalt Paving in Black Hawk, SD

Asphalt paving in Black Hawk starts with what is underneath. The community sits in Meade County along I-90 between Rapid City and Sturgis, in the band of red shale and gypsum known as the Red Valley. In May 2020 a large sinkhole opened into an abandoned gypsum mine below a Black Hawk neighborhood and displaced about twelve families. Most driveways never face anything like that, but it is a reason we take sinking and cracking seriously here rather than just patching over them.

What to watch for

A driveway that develops a new dip, a crack that keeps widening, or a patch that sinks again and again may simply have soft base. It may also mean something is moving below. We dig out and inspect failed areas before we rebuild them. If what we find suggests a bigger ground problem, we tell you, and we recommend talking to the county or an engineer before spending money on new asphalt.

Community background

Black Hawk is an unincorporated census-designated place, platted in 1887 and named for a nearby creek that honored the Sauk chief Black Hawk. It counted 3,026 residents in 2020 on about 2.2 square miles. Because it is unincorporated, county rules generally apply to approaches onto county roads.

Meade County approach permits

Meade County's approach permit costs $125. The application calls for a sketch of the access, a vicinity map, a development plan and a drainage plan, with a separate application for each approach. After the approach is built and inspected, the permit is issued, and a culvert may be required. We help pull the sketch and drainage details together.

Typical work here

• Replacing older driveways where the base has broken down
• Rebuilding sunken sections after we inspect what caused them
• Crack sealing before the freeze season
• Sealcoating once the surface has faded
• Driveway approaches onto county roads, with the county permit

Freeze-thaw on the I-90 corridor

The corridor between Rapid City and Sturgis gets the same chinook thaws and hard freezes as the city. Water that gets into cracks freezes and expands overnight. Sealing cracks before October and keeping water moving off the pavement are the two best things a Black Hawk owner can do.

Costs

HomeGuide lists saw-cut patches at about $4 to $12 per square foot and new driveways at about $5 to $12 or more. If a sunken area turns out to be a ground problem, the ground has to be fixed first, and we will not quote asphalt until it is.

Typical jobs here

Most Black Hawk requests are older driveway replacements, sunken-section repairs, and new approaches onto county roads. We dig and look before we price any repair to a sunken area.

Call (605) 605-1613 or

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