KTIV: Sturgis Rally vehicle traffic down nearly 6% in first three days, SDDOT says
The South Dakota Department of Transportation recorded 168,482 vehicles entering Sturgis during the first three official days of this year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally — Friday through Sunday — a decrease of 5.8% from the same period last year.
The DOT monitors vehicle traffic at nine locations coming into Sturgis. The three-day total is also down 0.9% from the five-year average.
Saturday was the busiest day
Saturday was the highest-traffic day of the rally so far, with 58,519 vehicles entering Sturgis. That figure is up 2.5% from the five-year average for the first Saturday of the rally.
How this year compares historically
Last year’s rally recorded a total of more than 537,000 vehicles entering Sturgis over the full 10-day event. The all-time high on record in this data set was 747,000 vehicles in 2015, during the 75th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.