South Dakota Highway 48 is a short state route in the far southeast corner of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

. The route, which runs entirely through Union County

Union County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 12,584 people, 4,927 households, and 3,517 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile . There were 5,345 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...

, begins at Interstate 29

Interstate 29

Interstate 29 is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern United States. I-29 runs from Kansas City, Missouri, at a junction with Interstate 35 and Interstate 70 to the Canadian border near Pembina, North Dakota, where it connects with Manitoba Highway 75 via the short Manitoba Highway 29.-Route...

 2.5 miles (4 km) west of Spink, and becomes Big Sioux River Road, formerly Iowa Highway 403, northwest of Akron, Iowa

Akron, Iowa

Akron is a city in Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,489 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Akron is located at , along the Big Sioux River....

. It is 12 miles (19.3 km) in length.

Route description

SD 48 begins at I-29 exit 31, approximately 44 miles (70.8 km) south of Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Sioux Falls is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Sioux Falls is the county seat of Minnehaha County, and also extends into Lincoln County to the south...

. From this diamond interchange

Diamond interchange

A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a freeway crosses a minor road. The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge...

, SD 48 travels due east. It near immediately meets County Road 1C, an old alignment of US 77. Two miles east of the CR 1C intersection, SD 48 passes through the town of Spink.

East of Spink, SD 48 gently curves to the north as it descends a rolling hill towards Brule Creek. After crossing the stream, the highway ascends, bending back to the south to resume its due east course. Over the next several miles, the road remains arrow-straight while traversing gently rolling farmland. Just under ten miles (just over sixteen kilometers) east of I-29, SD 48 serves as the southern terminus of SD 11. About ⅓ mi. (½ km) from the SD 11 junction, SD 48 crosses a bridge over West Union Creek; one mile (1.6 km) later, it crosses East Union Creek. For the remainder of the route, the road gradually S-curves southwest into the Big Sioux River

Big Sioux River

The Big Sioux River is a tributary of the Missouri River, long, in eastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa in the United States. The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Big Sioux River" as the stream's name in 1961....

 valley. At the Big Sioux River, the road crosses the Iowa state line and ends.

History

South Dakota 48 was established on a previously unnumbered highway between 1948 and 1953. It began at U.S. Highway 77 (current Union County Road 1C). No significant changes have been made, except for a slight extension to meet Interstate 29 to the west, and a slight realignment at the Iowa border.

Junction list