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. 

Bakken City At 13-Mile Corner

For archival purposes.

This is an old story, and there is nothing new. However, this story came up among family members recently and I was unable to find it quickly on the blog, so now it is more easily searchable. The original post was here, but the Bismarck Tribune story link is broken, I believe.

The Williston Herald reported back in April, 2013:

A new incorporated city could be coming to Williams County in the near future.
During Tuesday’s Williams County Commission meeting, a group of developers from South Dakota presented a plan for Bakken Village, a new incorporated city to be placed directly east of the 13 mile corner.

Bakken Village was put together by Four Front Design and the owners of the property that will be developed into Bakken Village.

Under the contract agreed by both parties, about 70 percent of the housing built in the new city will have to be affordable, which representatives from Four Front said would be somewhere between $150,000 and $250,000.

While the idea of incorporating a new city might be new to the residents of Williams County, Four Front has experience doing it before.

Williston Wire Headlines; New Town Proposed North Of Williston: "Bakken Village"

Updates

April 17, 2013: Note the headline story below -- talk of a new city north of Williston. Now The Bismarck Tribune is reporting the story:

A group that helped incorporate a new city in western South Dakota eight years ago might now do the same in western North Dakota's booming oil patch.

Four Front Design and the owners of property north of Williston have presented a plan for Bakken Village to the Williams County Commission, which has set up a task force to look into the possibility. North Dakota's secretary of state also would have to approve any new city.

Original Post

Headlines only, no links. It is easy to subscribe to the Williston Wire.

• Meadows Development: housing lots in first and second phase their subdivision, now available for purchase.
• Elk Ridge Subdivision begins selling lots.
• North Dakota funds affordable rental housing during oil boom.
• Developers propose new city at 13-mile corner: "Bakken Village."
• Washington family opens candy store in Williston.
• Williston police department will grow to 38 officers by mid-2013, from 22 in 2007.
• Rail expansion in New Town hopes to reduce truck traffic. Dakota Plains Holdings Inc plans a large expansion to move crude from New Town via rail. The expansion will involve builidng two 8,300 long loops of railroad track to load oil onto unit trains. Each track can accommodate 120 rail cars.
• McKenzie County expects to grow to 11,500 over the next two years.
• Cobblestone Hotels is building a new hotel in three small ND towns: Harvey, 32-room; B Bottineau , 45-room; and, Rugby, 36-room hotel.

WAWS Water At 13-Mile Corner

CRC provided the link.

Great story. KFYR out of Bismarck reporting:

The demand for water is bigger than ever in western North Dakota, as residential and industrial growth continues to flourish. Thanks to some unique water depots, help is officially on the way. These depots are part of the Western Area Water Supply Project being installed throughout the western half of the state. Unlike most state-run projects, this one is being paid for by the oil industry.

Water is for sale at the 13 Mile Corner and area truckers couldn't be happier.

"Oh this is extremely helpful having this here, it really shortens the distance us truck drivers have to go for water and it makes our turnaround so much faster," said truck driver Rick Ingraham.

Go to the link for some interesting additional data points.

This is a very big story; lots of implications. Key phrase in the article: "state-of-the-art" water depots.

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This really was my favorite album at the time it came out:

Wah-Wah, George Harrison

A Little Bit More Regarding Development At 13-Mile Corner North Of Williston

For some reason, I couldn't get the site to download earlier, but it is opening now, albeit a bit slowly. This is the URL for information regarding the 13-mile corner north of Williston:

http://www.13milecenter.com/#!about-13-mc 

And taken from the google blurb:

13 Mile Center (13MC) is an approximately 80 acre commercial park offering a variety of ... 13MC is ideally located at the intersection of State Route 2 & 85 North in the hub of the Bakken Basin oil field activity zone. ... Williston, North Dakota ..

Meanwhile, this PDF will download. It's a press release. The same company building the Radisson Hotel and Country Inn & Suites in Williston is considering building hotels in Ray (northeast of Williston) and at the 13-mile corner north of Williston.

Pilot Flying J Truck Stop At The 13-Mile Corner North Of Williston

I don't recall posting this earlier or seeing it at the Williston Wire. A writer comments that Pilot is building a truck stop at the 13-mile corner north of Williston. This is an incredible location. Remember, Love's is also building north of Williston.

According to wiki:

Currently, Pilot Flying J is the largest purveyor of over-the-road diesel fuel in the United States. Pilot Flying J also is known as the largest Travel Center chain in the country with over 550 locations under the Pilot and Flying J brands. Pilot Flying J is also the third largest franchisor of quick service restaurants in the nation, offering one to three different concepts at each location, and is also the largest franchisee ofSubway in the world with over 200 locations. Unlike many travel centers and truck stops, the majority of locations with the Pilot Travel Centers brand do not utilize full-service dining.

Wow, it would be great if these truck stops would see a market for natural gas vehicles. I'm counting on Heckmann to raise the bar.

NOTE: first comment from "anon 1": Pilot Flying J is the key LNG truck stop partner for Clean Energy Fuels' Natural Gas Highway. Additional information in a SeekingAlpha.com article.

And, again, a huge "thank you" to a reader for alerting me to this development. I would be curious to hear what all is being developed at the 13-mile corner. The corner is in Tyrone oil field, just west of the East Fork field.

Just for the fun of it, there is one producing well right at the 13-mile corner, on the northwest side:

• 19048, 705, Petro-Hunt, Borrud 156-101-11D-2-1H, t8/11; cum 69K 7/12;

When I was a teen-ager (probably the summers between my sophomore and senior years of high school) I picked rocks on Dr Borrud's land a few miles north of the 13-mile corner on the east side of US Highway 85. It was the most back-breaking work I had ever done, but it was not the worst job I have ever had.