PIERRE — The state Transportation Commission hesitated at first but then consented Thursday to give away more than 50 acres of land in Beadle County.

The long strips of easement were purchased from landowners by the South Dakota Department of Transportation more than 30 years ago.

The land was bought under a plan to expand U.S. 14 into a four-lane highway between Huron and U.S. 281.

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DOT’s right-of-way and legal experts said the 11 parcels need to be legally abandoned and allowed to revert to private ownership because the land isn’t being used for the purpose expressed at the time of purchases.

They explained that DOT can’t sell the land because of other legal restrictions that were in place on DOT purchases made prior to 1986.

State Transportation Secretary Darin Bergquist said that property taxes can be levied again after the land is returned.

Having to give away land purchased with tax money seemed to stick in the craws of several commissioners. Also hard to swallow were the economic implications for Huron of DOT giving back ground once destined to become an expressway.

“There just absolutely never will be a four-lane highway going west out of Huron, in other words,” commissioner Ralph Marquardt, of Yankton observed.

Just a few years ago, Huron’s prospects seemed brighter, as the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern railroad planned to locate a central yard there as part of its project to build a high-grade line that would carry coal from the mines in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.

But the Canadian Pacific has since purchased the railroad and the coal project isn’t a priority for the new owner.

The Beadle County give-back won’t be the last such situation involving land bought by DOT but not used, according to right-of-way administrator Joel Gengler.

“We likely will have many more of these in the future, as we discover bits and pieces of property we never built, dating back to the ‘30s,” Gengler said.