Fast Facts On New Bypass Around Watford City -- October 30, 2014

Taken directly from MDU's Fast Facts, sent to me by a reader:

The North Dakota oil patch town of Watford City is the fastest growing city in the fastest growing county in the country.

Tuesday morning (October 28, 2014), thanks to Knife River, the city finally got some much-needed breathing room. With an assist from North Dakota’s governor and a pair of shiny scissors, Knife River officially opened the U.S. Highway 85 bypass.

The $55 million project — which routes traffic around Watford City to the west — was the largest in Knife River history. The nine-mile bypass takes 13,000 vehicles a day, including 5,000 trucks, out of downtown Watford City. It improves both safety and traffic flow in the busy Bakken oilfield.

“It’s a great feeling to complete a project of this size that will have such a positive impact for so many people,” said Brad Arntson, president of Knife River’s North Dakota Division. “We’re proud to be involved with this bypass. This was a huge job and took some good teamwork. In the end, we worked together to build a safe, high-quality road on time and within budget. This project is a big success.”

Knife River’s Andy Cramer and Stacey Ashinhurst managed the project out of the company’s Williston, North Dakota, office.

The North Dakota team worked closely with Dave Midtlyng, Zach Cooper and Knife River’s Idaho Division, which handled much of the civil construction.

In total, Knife River moved 2.1 million cubic yards of dirt and provided 520,000 tons of aggregates and 200,000 tons of asphalt. The project also included 30,000 cubic yards of concrete.

Knife River finished the project on budget and in less than 13 months, which was ahead of schedule.

“To have this happen in the speed that it did speaks to great cooperation,” Watford City Mayor Brent Sanford said at Tuesday’s ribbon cutting. “And to (Knife River), thank you. This has to be a record for finishing a project.” 

I was in the area two or three times when they were working on this project. A couple of things stuck out. It seemed they worked on this 24/7 and it seemed they kept the traffic moving throughout the process with a minimum of fuss.

But look at that traffic: 13,000 vehicles per day; 5,000 of them trucks! Gives newbies some idea just how busy the Bakken is.