New Thoroughfare In Williston Completed; Connects North Housing With South Retail On West Side Of Town -- Huge Addition, August 18, 2014; Other Bakken Projects Announced -- Williston Wire

I'll be looking for this when I visit the Bakken in September. From the press release I can't say for sure where this "new thoroughfare" starts and finishes, but I think they are talking about the road -- 32nd Avenue West -- running north/south: north from the roundabout northwest of Williston (near the Statoil/BEXP four-well pad), south to Highway 2 & 85 west of Williston (see first comment).

Google maps, of course, don't show it yet, but this is what I think they are talking about:

The long, unlabeled arrow points out the new thoroughfare connecting housing and retail on the west side. I assume they are still working on the underpass under the bypass, highway 2, which will connect "old Williston" with "new Williston."

I thought of trying to drive this new thoroughfare last spring -- all dirt and mud -- when I last visited, but thought better of doing that.

Meanwhile, the new bypass around Alexander, 25 miles south of Williston, has also been completed.  This is the first leg of the new four-lane highway 85 between Watford City and Williston.

Killdeer, southeast of Watford City, the sweet spot of the Bakken, is also looking to build a bypass around the city.

Down here in Grapevine/Southlake, Texas, contractors have spent more than a year improving an existing intersection, and it looks like they won't be done for another year, and yet in the Bakken, new roads are going in "overnight."

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Construction Soon To Begin On $15 Million Downtown Williston Project: press release. 

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MHA transload and refinery project construction has begun: click here.