Page 8 ■ Thursday, February 16, 2012
BAKKEN NEWS
2012 will be a banner year for road construction
By DERRI SCARLETT For the Tribune
combined last year to create a perfect storm on North Dakota’s roads, and “construction season” promises to be long, long, long throughout the state. According to Russ Hanson, execu-
A booming economy, water and oil
nance and enhancement of state, county, city and township roadways. That in- cludes an unprecedented sum in non- matching State General Fund dollars and is the largest two-year budget for road construction and transportation services in NDDOT history.” That fi gure includes $600 million for
tive vice president of Associated Gen- eral Contractors, “The Williston area is very visible with its needs and the wear and tear on the roads out there, and that need is real. There’s a lot of notoriety and press, and rightly so. But there’s also a lot of work throughout state. It will be a very big year for construction in North Dakota.” AGC is the trade association for com-
mercial contractors in the state. “Last year, the state spent $590 mil-
lion, and that was by far a record,” Han- son said. “We expect this year to be an- other big year, very close to last year.” Peggy Anderson, spokeswoman for
the regular federal aid statewide con- struction program, $228.6 million for the Extraordinary State Highway Main- tenance program and $147 million for the county and township road recon- struction program. The funding comes from several dif-
the state Department of Transportation, agrees. “The estimated 2012 construction
ferent sources, including the federal highway administration, state highway tax distribution fund, and state general fund, Anderson said. “A lot of temporary repairs had to be done last year because of fl ooding,” she said. “Those are called emergency relief projects. We plan to complete perma- nent repairs in those areas this year.” Part of the problem is a numbers
game, thanks to a thriving state econo- my.
program is approximately $520 million on projects throughout North Dakota,” she said. “The governor and Legislature passed a comprehensive transportation package of $1.67 billion for the 2011- 2013 biennium, which includes mainte-
today throughout state has increased,” Hanson said. “It’s most visible out west, but it’s true everywhere. And they’re heavier than they were a generation ago. There are almost double the number of trucks there were 30 years ago, and
NDDOT Projects in western North Dakota $$$ in millions
“The number of trucks on the road LAUREN DONOVAN/Tribune
Two bulldozers and nine scrapers were assembled during the reconstruction of Highway 22 landslide in this fi le photo from Nov. 11, 2011. On the best days, equipment removed 580 loads of dirt to make a new cut for the road. The road re-opened on Nov. 9, 2011 after being closed because of landslides since late May 2011.
those trucks are 30 percent heavier. You take those numbers into the equation, and there’s a vast need for infrastruc- ture.” Drought-prone North Dakota had the opposite problem last year, Hanson said. “Water is one of the most powerful
natural things there is,” he said. “You’ve got Devils Lake — the lake that won’t stop rising — and that’s creating prob- lems. The fl ooding around the state caused a lot of erosion. There are dam- aged bridges to be repaired, downed trees to deal with, dykes to be removed.” The DOT’s Anderson said, “Record
fl ooding across North Dakota caused extensive damage to state, county and urban roadways covering 41 counties and three cities. Some areas of the state are still assessing damage to their infra- structure. The Department is working on a large number of emergency relief projects.” Areas affected by fl ooding, in addi-
and turning lanes ■ Major construction and widening projects on state Highway 8, state High-
construction in North Dakota on U.S. Highway 85 between Watford City and Williston, providing additional passing
way 22 and state Highway 23 ■ Expedited repairs on damaged pavement of several state highways in
Williston and Watford City areas ■ Installation of traffi c signal systems at highway intersections near Tioga, Wil-
liston, Watford City and Stanley ■ Added centerline and edge-line rumble stripes on two-lane highways
Western North Dakota projects sched- uled for completion this year include the following:
Interstate 94 ■ Westbound reconstruction from east Dickinson interchange to west of Taylor
tion to Devils Lake, include the Red Riv- er area, Minot, Bismarck and the Prairie Pothole Region, which covers the eastern half of the state. “Another challenge due to weather-
bells from junction of U.S. Highway 52 to junction of state Highway 50
related conditions includes landslides on highways in western North Dakota,” Anderson said. While oil has been a boon to the state
economically, it has been a bane to roads, especially in the northwest. The DOT has accelerated projects
Source: North Dakota Department of Transportation
The North Dakota Department of Transportation invested approximately $635 million in state projects from 2008-2011 to preserve and improve transportation infrastructure in this area. The state will invest an additional $305 million in 2012, as well as continue to plan and work on future road projects. North Dakota has seen an increase in vehicle miles traveled on the state highway system from 2005 to 2011, growing from 7.4 billion vehicle miles traveled in 2005 to 9.1 billion vehicle miles traveled in 2011.
in western North Dakota and increased dollars spent for repair work, construc- tion and signage in oil impact areas, An- derson said.
Major projects worked on in 2011 in-
clude the following: ■ Completed fi rst Super 2 highway
State Highway 8 ■ Widening and regrading near Bow-
roadway and adding passing and turning lanes east of New Town to state Highway 37
State Highway 23 ■ Improvements include widening
Dickinson to Dunn County line ■ Widening and adding/turning lanes 12 miles north of Killdeer to Lost
State Highway 22 ■ Expanding to fi ve lanes in north
Bridge. ■ Widening and adding passing/turn- ing lanes from state Highway 73 to state Highway 23
for the city of Williston Additional truck reliever routes are
Williston truck route ■ Developing a truck-reliever route
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