Why I Love to Blog -- First Roundabout In North Dakota -- Williston (Unless Fargo Has One) -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Last night, just before going to bed, I wrote a long, long note on my impressions of the Bakken. I probably wrote several pages, and then decided the better part of valor was to post only a few notes, eliminating all the stuff that would get folks upset. So it was a short note.

But point # 5 of that post:

5. Regarding the Truck Reliever Route (the new bypass around Williston): a) folks are looking for a solution to the wrong problem; they are asking the wrong question; folks are putting the emphasis for the new route on the wrong "thing."  The emphasis for any new route needs to be on two things: a) the "right" direction (and north/south is not the correct direction; and, b) intersection engineering. The trick is not the route; the trick is getting onto the route.  Left hand turns, stop signs, and yield signs don't cut it.

Now, today, incredible as it may seem, a friend sends me a link to a Bismarck Tribune story on that very issue: intersections, dateline today, October 13, 2011.

The town of Killdeer could soon boast the only traffic roundabout between Fargo and Billings, Mont.

The busy intersection of Highways 200 and 22 just south of town is getting a sliding "C" grade from the state Department of Transportation, and a roundabout is one of two possibilities for improving that score.

A roundabout is essentially a circle intersection with drivers only able to make a right turn for any exit option with yields, not stops controlling the flow.

Transportation designer Leon Eckroth said the number of potential conflict points is greatly reduced from 32 conflict points in a turn-lane intersection - the other construction possibility - to four in a roundabout.

Technically speaking, this may be the first/only roundabout between Fargo and Billings, but if true, then Williston will be able to lay claim to the first roundabout in North Dakota (unless Fargo  has one). There is a huge roundabout at Harvest Hills subdivision northwest of Williston. The north exit will take you into the subdivision; the south exit will take you to Sand Creek Retail Center, where Menard's will be located.

My seven-year experience with roundabouts in England completely sold me on the idea. Roundabouts can be used on four-lane divided highways and on interstate-like highways. England does it all the time. But it requires "out-of-the-box" thinking and the likelihood of more than one roundabout in Williams County is highly unlikely. (The one roundabout in Williams County is at the new Harvest Hills subdivision promoted by Granite Peak/Peter Kiewit. I was impressed when I saw it. It is a huge roundabout -- I wondered why it was so huge, and then realized it would accomodate truck traffic if necessary.