RAPID CITY, S.D. – Drivers passing through the busy Catron/Highway 16 intersection can see Dream Design’s Healing Way project on the northeast corner of Catron Boulevard and Highway 16.
The project promises to bring more development to a booming Rapid City landscape, bringing hotels, restaurants, general commercial and medical facilities that extend the increasingly busy medical corridor south of the city.
“It will be a destination development,” said Mike Stanley, Director of Planning, Dream Design. “People will come here to go to these facilities.”
New Interchange Construction
What drivers won’t see yet is the planned reconstruction of the Hwy. 16 corridor at Catron.
Healing Way is just one piece of the development puzzle on the busy corridor. The South Dakota Department of Transportation has another major project scheduled for the Catron Boulevard/U.S. Highway 16 interchange.
The project will include multiple phases and span years and include detours, overpass construction, road resurfacing and more. The new interchange project is scheduled from 2026 to 2031 and will impact the corridor from Promise Road past Catron on 16.
According to the South Dakota Department of Transportation, that busy intersection and corridor is key to regional and local networks for commuters and tourists. As constructed now, the intersection has a high crash rate in an area that is destined to host even more traffic in the near future.
On Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, the South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) will hold an informational meeting at 5 p.m. to share information on the background and phases for the U.S. Highway 16/16B/Catron Boulevard interchange construction project in Rapid City.
The construction information meeting will take place in the event room at Black Hills Energy, located at 7001 Mount Rushmore Rd. in Rapid City.
Roads impacted by the Hwy. 16 corridor reconstruction project over the next several years.
Healing Way
At the Healing Way project, Stanley said the road grade for phase one is cut in for the 25-acre area and the goal is to have the paving and utilities completed by Thanksgiving, readying the area for construction.
“We’ve had a lot of interest, people calling asking about what’s available and time frames,” Stanley said.
It’s not a surprise there’s interest in space along a busy corridor. Growth in Rapid City is happening fast – Ellsworth Air Force Base bomber expansion, Sanford Health announcement, business expansion and growth – and people come up this way from as far south as Nebraska for services and shopping.
“People are realizing how great it is to live in this area,” Stanley said. “Rapid City is really tapped now to start to become a major industrial and commercial leader in this region.”
The second phase of the Healing Way Project – Healing Way North just north of the main project – is currently under development in coordination with the state Department of Transportation, the City of Rapid City, and landowners, all working on different aspects of the development.
That project, also visible to drivers on Highway 16, should be graded and ready by late spring.
Dream Design has several projects currently underway highlighting the growth in Rapid City. Healing Way, the 750-acre Industrial Park by the landfill, the mixed-use project Shepherd Hills behind Menards, Orchard Meadows, Liberty Plaza in Box Elder, the Harvest project (Natural Grocers), and others.
Mike Stanley, Director of Planning with Dream Design, talks about phase one of the Healing Way project off Hwy. 16 at Catron.
