PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — State Parks and Recreation Director Doug Hofer says planning is under way to connect the Mickelson Trail to Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota’s Black Hills.

The South Dakota Legislature provided $500,000 to help pay for an environmental impact study for the proposed spur that would run from Hill City on the existing hiking and biking trail to Mount Rushmore. Hofer says the environmental study will take up to two years to complete.

The trail from Hill City to Mount Rushmore would cost an estimated $8 million.

Hofer says the Mickelson Trail, named after the late Governor George Mickelson, now reaches the historic gambling town of Deadwood, the mountain carving of Crazy Horse and Custer State Park. He says it’s time for the trail to reach Mount Rushmore.