DOT official says wide road strong possibility

By MICHELLE MCLEAN
Hillsboro’s wish to maintain a wide ND Hwy. 200 may very well come true.
Kevin Gorder, district engineer for the Fargo District of the North Dakota Department of Transportation, says it is rare that the state rejects a city’s recommendation regarding a state road that’s also a city street.
At their April 16 meeting, Hillsboro city commissioners voted 3-2 to recommend the state DOT reconstruct ND200 (or 1st Street East) as a 56-foot wide roadway surfaced in concrete.
“The NDDOT will probably adhere to this decision provided the City of Hillsboro agrees to pay 100 percent of the construction costs above $2 million,” Gorder said.
Scheduled for the 2008 construction season, the road reconstruction plan is estimated to cost about $3 million.
The final decision by the DOT is expected “in the next month or so,” Gorder noted. He indicated that Grant Levi, state deputy engineer for engineering, will sign off on a final plan.
Gorder added that he couldn’t recall any reasonable recommendation not followed by the state. He admitted that the city’s willingness to pay for the additional costs does carry some weight.
While the argument over the width of the road may be settled, another dispute is brewing. State officials, including Gorder, insist the intersection of ND200 and Caledonia Avenue should not be a four-way stop.
According to the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices, traffic counts and the delays created by the traffic “do not warrant” a four-way stop at the busiest intersection in Hillsboro. Under the new design proposal, traffic on ND200 would not be required to stop while traffic on Caledonia would be.
Gorder says he understands the concerns about safety for pedestrians and traffic speeds expressed by residents. He cites the MUTCD, which states implicitly that “stop signs cannot be used for speed control.”
MUTCD provides guidelines for consistent traffic control — from the size of stop signs to the color of pavement markings — allowing for uniformity whether a driver is parking a car in New York City or driving a truck through North Dakota.
The four-way stop at the intersection was placed there by the state more than 20 years ago when construction on I-29 detoured traffic through Hillsboro. Traffic signals — of some sort — have stayed in place ever since.
Gorder says the final decision about the intersection has not been made and could be influenced by local residents.
In fact, he encouraged residents to petition and write the DOT or enlist their legislators to lobby the department if the stop sign issue is important to them.
“It’s not a dead issue,” Gorder conceded, if local residents want to change the state’s mind.
The saga of ND200’s proposed reconstruction dates back to the fall of 2005 when the city of Hillsboro was awarded a federal and state grant to rebuild the road, which was first paved in 1948 and last resurfaced in the mid 1970s.
From the onset, the construction plans have created a divide. The state proposed a less expensive 44-foot road surfaced in asphalt while local residents argued in favor of keeping the road 56 feet wide for better safety and access and resurfacing in concrete to handle the increased truck traffic on the busy highway.
The argument split the city commission with the majority of commissioners agreeing with the residents’ lobby. One commissioner accepted the narrow road recommended by the state while the fifth commissioner wanted out of the plan, insisting the state wasn’t paying its fair share.
According to the latest figures from the state, federal funds are capped at $1.6 million. The state’s share had been capped at $200,000 but a change in policy makes the DOT responsible for 90 percent of engineering costs, upping its potential share to between $390,000 to $450,000. The city’s share is estimated at $1,000,000.
Calculations suggest that the owner of a 100-foot lot would be taxed about $132 a year in special assessments for 15 years to pay for the project.
In conjunction with the road work, the city is considering doing some additional storm sewer work while the street is torn up. The estimated cost is $610,000 to $660,000 or a 20-year special assessment of about $72 a year.
One commissioner, Mike Lessard, insisted the project should be dropped and the city walk away from the $2 million in grant money and wait for the state to reconstruct the road on its own.
Gorder said, “The city can pull out but may be responsible for some expenses up to date. However, when a regularly scheduled project comes through the City of Hillsboro (in the future), the city may have less say in the final decision.”
A timeline for a “regularly scheduled project” is sketchy at best — estimates of three to seven years have been tossed around during commissioners’ discussions.
Gorder noted that the NDSTREET (North Dakota Small Town Revitalization Endeavor for Enhancing Transportation) grants awarded in 2005 brought a lot of “excitement and hope” to recipient communities — Hillsboro, Watford City, Center and Ashley. Because of the three-year delay between the grant application and construction, cities are feeling the pain of “inflation hitting.” Estimates provided by the state suggest a six-percent increase each year in costs.
ND200 will be the focus of a chip seal this summer, Gorder said. Bids to improve the 10-mile north-south portion of the road will be opened in May. If the city and state agree to move forward with the 2008 project in Hillsboro, the chip seal will not include that portion of the road.