Update on Highway Projects Planned For This Summer in North Dakota's Oil Patch

Updates

November 29, 2012: from The Bismarck Tribune -- Williston's truck reliever route just hit a speed bump. Huge speed bump. Back to square one.

An amazing array of archaeological features ended hopes of building a bypass around northwest Williston preferred by officials because it’s shortest, closest and cheapest.

The State Department of Transportation built a temporary northwest bypass earlier this year, but a preferred route for a permanent one has been fairly well stopped in its tracks by the discovery of more than 8,000 ancient archaeological features, including burials and cemeteries along both sides of the route.

This is too big a deal for the DOT to overcome. Oh, well. It looks like the temporary route is going to be a bit more permanent.
 
November 28, 2012: from The Dickinson Press --

The widening of North Dakota Highway 22 in north Dickinson is near completion as crews install traffic lights.

Once the lights are running, control of them will be turned over to the city, Olson said.
The project, which began May 29, cost $17 million, said North Dakota Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jamie Olson. The paving and addition of three lanes was complete at the end of October.

“It’s to help control the flow of traffic, there’s an increase of traffic in that area,” she said. “It sounds like that (area) will continue to grow.”

It is one of many major road construction projects NDDOT began in 2012 in the Oil Patch. Others include improvements to the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and N.D. Highway 85, N.D. Highway 8, N.D. Highway 23 and developing a truck reliever route for Williston.

Original Post

Last summer, the state did a great job widening the highway between Williston and Watford City, but it was an interim fix to the ultimate goal: four-lane, divided highway. The governor says an additional environmental document is needed. No further details were provided in the Bismarck Tribune article.

The governor also said that plans were afoot to build a new Little Missouri River bridge on Highway 85 south of Watford City.

The article listed the other projects planned for this summer in the oil patch:

• rebuilding and additional road repairs to U.S. Highway 2 north of Williston to the U.S. Highway 85 junction and east of Ray
• widening and adding passing and turning lanes to N.D. Highway 23, east of New Town to N.D. 37.
• expanding N.D. Highway 22 north of Dickinson to the county line
• adding turn lanes and passing lanes to N.D. Highway 22, 12 miles north of Killdeer to Lost Bridge
• widening and adding passing and turning lanes to N.D. Highway 22, from N.D. 73 to N.D. 23
• developing Williston’s temporary and permanent truck-reliever routes