The “Beloved Bypass”

Driving in communities with a five digit population or more is not an enjoyable experience for my husband. He is perfectly content driving on dirt streets in towns that don’t have stoplights every block.

 

He knows that it is necessary at times to take on the bigger communities when we need parts for equipment, major repairs done, or have to pick up items we can’t get in nearby smaller towns. When the Highway 16/East Catron Boulevard truck bypass was built outside of Rapid City, it became my husband’s new road of choice to enter Rapid. We’ve nicknamed it his “beloved bypass” because he will take it regardless of how much farther out of the way it is. He claims it takes less time using the bypass because there aren’t all the stoplights to have to deal with but I’m convinced it’s probably an extra 3-4 miles to drive. It feels that way anyway.

When we consolidate our shopping trip to Rapid City together, we tend to argue over which way is faster. Depending on the stops I have on my list and how much time I’m allowed to do my shopping, I may protest taking his bypass route. We try to establish our route into town before we get to the junction where we either head into downtown Rapid City or take the truck bypass. Most of the time I tolerate the longer route since he usually drives. I usually gripe about taking the bypass on our way home if we’ve been on a date night and the movie got out late. Since I’m an early riser and not a night owl, I struggle keeping awake talking to him on the way home. Heading out of town to take the bypass when I’m tired feels like we’re driving to Wall, South Dakota before we are pointed south toward home. I’m thinking more and more that the bypass is a man route because my brothers admitted that they prefer using it too.

Certain times I will take the beloved truck bypass or part of it if my stops are on the east side of town. Going through downtown Rapid isn’t as big of a deal to me if I time my speed so I hit all the green lights. It mostly depends on the day of the week, time of day and the amount of traffic whether I’m agreeable to taking the bypass or not but my favorite way to bypass all city traffic and street congestion is to avoid going there at all.