Random Note On Highways In And Out Of Watford City

North Dakota State Senator Tim Mathern posted the following photograph on Facebook:

 Looking south from the center of Watford City, North Dakota, May, 2014

The photograph reminded me of two of my earlier posts (see below) -- posted in February, 2014 -- regarding the new highway being built west from Watford City to Alexander. Note: the photograph above is taken of the highway south of Watford City. This is NOT the highway that leads between the city and Alexander. This road goes south toward the North Unit of the Park, but truckers take it to catch the road east to the oil fields in some of the best oil country in the Bakken.

It should be noted that, for the most part, the permanent population has not grown much; this is all transient, all workers, all trucks. Watford City had a population of about 1,800 before the boom. The most current figures show about 2,500. There are projections that another 30,000 people could end up residing in Watford before the boom is over. Okay, so 30,000 is a bit down the road --- imagine 5,000 more people -- that would triple the current population and be 5 times what it was before the boom.

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Comments on the road being built between Watford City and Alexander (a re-post):

[It is my understanding that] the four-lane highway between Watford City and Williston will NOT be a divided four-lane highway, but an undivided four-lane highway. That is incredible. Incredible is absolutely the wrong thing to do. See my first impressions of this stretch of road. An undivided highway is absolutely irresponsible. I think one could argue that a four-lane undivided highway might be more dangerous than leaving things the way they are. A four-lane highway will encourage faster speeds; the current two-lane with some widening, some three-lane stretches, some turning lanes creates a chokepoint simply because so much of it is two-lane, but it has the natural effect to slow down traffic at least to some extent.

The plans for the US Highway 85 project in western North Dakota can be found here. I'm not sure if the 20' median is the entire length of the highway, but if it is "highway asphalt" that makes up the median, I would assume it becomes, for all "practical" reasons, a dangerous, optional, illegal passing zone. Disclaimer: I have not reviewed the details; I don't know for sure what the completed highway will look like. I may be wrong; I may be misunderstanding the reader or the official plans, but if this is not a conventional "divided" highway, this is not good news.

By the way, while driving that stretch of road the other day, there was already a lot of construction of the four-lane highway, and it appeared that it was not going to be divided, but I thought I was just missing something. Apparently not. Barriers down the center of the road will be needed -- they do this all over the south and the east where there is high traffic, high speed, and an undivided four-lane highway. The barriers, beside protecting against head-on crashes, have a tendency to slow traffic down just because there is a "perception" the road is narrower than it might really be, AND drivers know they have no "escape route" to the left when driving in the passing lane. 

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And then this, a re-posting of my first impressions of the road between Watford City and Alexander, earlier this year:

Driving north into Watford, there is now a traffic light at the intersection of state highway 23 going around the city on the east side. I can't remember if the traffic light was there on my Bakken trip #2.

The traffic was as heavy as I have ever seen in Watford City. It took five minutes to get through the town of Watford City -- that left turn is the chokepoint, but it moves very, very quickly. Five minutes to get through the intersection but probably a total of ten minutes to get from south side of Watford to north/east side of Watford. In the old days, it would have been a two-minute, maybe three-minute drive, so I guess one can say it now takes three to five times longer to get through Watford if just driving through on US Highway 85.

I have driven cross-country from Boston to Dallas, Dallas to Los Angeles, Dallas to North Dakota and back, and Los Angeles via Denver, Cheyenne, and Lusk, to Williston, and I think I have seen a fair amount of traffic. I have driven in the most congested urban areas of Boston and the most rural areas of western Nebraska.

I can only call the highway from the western side of Watford City to Alexander, a 19.7 mile stretch the "most interesting" road I have ever driven.

This is the unedited note I sent my wife after arriving at Williston, regarding this "most interesting stretch of road":

Today, I was going through Watford City at 5:00 p.m. -- without a doubt, the road from Watford City to Alexander was the MOST INTERESTING road I have traveled in all my cross-country trips (Boston to Dallas; Dallas to Los Angeles; Los Angeles to Williston).

It is impossible to describe the highway.

It was truly something out of the wild west. Absolutely unsafe. I have to agree; this is the most unsafe stretch of road in the US (of roads I've been on and I have been on a lot). There may be worse stretches in India, Italy, Africa, but this is truly incredible for America.

The traffic is solid in both directions. There is a solid double-yellow line separating two lanes going into Watford and one lane going from Watford (on west side of city). All traffic is traveling above posted speed limit.

One pick-up crossed over the double-yellow line, heading directly into on-coming traffic; made it safely; it was a wake-up call for me.

From Belfield to Williston I did not see one law enforcement office (sheriff, city cop, or highway patrol). (At Belfield, I may have seen two police cars but not sure if anyone in them).

They need at least six full-time patrol cars between Watford City and Alexander. It was out-of-control. Perhaps it was the 5:00 o'clock rush hour. But headlights were starting to come on; they are at all heights -- cars, pickups, semis. Full speed with no barrier between oncoming traffic.

It's a credit to everyone driving that there are not major accidents. Watford City to Williston is no longer a urban/rural environment. Along US Highway 85 it is strictly 100% industrial zone. Mostly huge trucks. Perhaps 60% huge trucks; 35% pickups; and 5% automobiles. It was quite a trip. Words really don't do it justice. 

The description may be hyperbole. I had driven pretty much straight-through from Los Angeles to the Bakken and that could have affected my observations. When I say it was "out of control" I don't mean that in a negative way. I'm not sure if that's the best way to describe it. But from an "out of control" point of view, consider these facts:

• no traffic lights
• rare warning signs
• traffic flowing above the posted speed limit (this was winter, by the way)
• 60% semi's, specialty trucks; 35% pickups; 5% automobiles
• not one highway patrolman; not one city policeman seen

Therefore: no control. Folks were clearly on their own. Good, bad, indifferent. One gets on that road and one is in the "fast lane."

My wife asked, in a phone call, if I felt "unsafe." I did not feel unsafe, but the only word I could come up with was "uncomfortable." It was a feeling I have rarely experienced while driving anywhere. I am "uncomfortable" driving in downtown Boston and New York City. I was somewhat uncomfortable driving at the speed limit over the Black Hills on ice and snow (albeit pretty wells cleared), and I was somewhat uncomfortable driving in the small villages along I-70 on the way to Denver, but they were all uncomfortable in their own ways.

Watford City to Alexander was uncomfortable in its own way. An occasional trip is fine, when one has to take it to get from point A to point B, but I wouldn't want to take a "Sunday drive" to Watford city. On both my Bakken trips #1 and #2, I eagerly and easily took drives to Watford City just to visit the steakhouse/bank. Not any more.

Ironically, I think a highway patrol cruiser or two might make things worse. Folks would react to seeing a highway patrolman, and the rhythm of the drive would change. I don't know. Maybe the highway patrol should be there. But I can see how law enforcement could temporarily make a bad situation worse. I'm sure I'm wrong. But truck drivers might understand what I'm trying to say.

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When I drove through Watford City on Bakken trip #4 I was surprised how quiet Watford City was, and how little traffic there was on the highway leading west out of town. I assumed the oil patch was finally reaching a plateau and folks had "spread out." It was later that I learned all the trucks were off the road because of road restrictions for the spring thaw. Obviously, not ALL trucks were off the road, but it certainly seemed, in retrospect, 90% of the trucks must have been off the road. In Tim Mathern's photo above, it appears things are as busy as ever.