RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A group that represents businesses and landowners wants Rapid City to spend $1 million more on a project to upgrade the road considered the gateway to the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

The city already has approved spending about $5 million to spruce up Mount Rushmore Road as part of an ongoing joint city-state road reconstruction project that will cost more than $24 million by the time it's complete in 2018.

The Rapid City Journal reports that the Mount Rushmore Road Group is now asking the City Council to spend an extra $1 million to beautify the rebuilt road with elaborate plantings and sections of colored concrete. The Public Works Committee will discuss the proposal next month.

About 24,000 vehicles use Mount Rushmore Road each day.

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