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North Dakota

Started by Alps, November 20, 2011, 03:10:05 AM

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Alps

Hey, in some states, 11,000 VPD is a lot. In the Northeast, you might consider a center stripe. ND just completed improvements to US 85 from Watford City to Williston, although it's not a "Super 2" like the article claims, at least how we define it. One of those unofficial definitions we enthusiasts just agreed on, and ND has a different one, one that involves at-grade intersections.

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/highway-s-new-super-looks-great-but-not-a-super/article_eb67318e-1338-11e1-8348-001cc4c03286.html


triplemultiplex

Ah, the "Super 2 Lane" is the same thing MnDOT has been doing to TH 61 up the north shore over the years.  I've read articles in the Duluth media that uses that term in the same, non-roadgeek way.  Those projects are always fun to drive through as there is no detour alternative.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

J N Winkler

Quote from: Steve on November 20, 2011, 03:10:05 AMND just completed improvements to US 85 from Watford City to Williston, although it's not a "Super 2" like the article claims, at least how we define it. One of those unofficial definitions we enthusiasts just agreed on, and ND has a different one, one that involves at-grade intersections.

I don't know that the term "Super Two" is officially defined anywhere.  I cannot remember having seen it in any official design publication.  For the sake of keeping the peace, I go along with the typical roadgeek usage of "Super Two" to refer to two-lane highways with full shoulders and comprehensive grade separation, but I usually try to specify separately whether I am interested in the typical cross-section or the lack of at-grade crossings.  In popular parlance (not just in newspapers) "Super Two" is understood to mean any two-lane road with full shoulders and design for high speed, regardless of the degree of access control, and indeed that is how I first heard the term.

In regard to US 85 in North Dakota, the local dignitaries are correct when they say that the road should have been widened to four lanes.  11,000 VPD is slightly in excess of the traditional 10,000-VPD warrant for widening to four lanes divided in level terrain (which can drop down to 5,000 VPD in mountainous terrain owing to level-of-service considerations).  In Kansas the US 54 Kingman Bypass is slated for construction as a full freeway with a design-year AADT of just under 9,000 VPD.  We can hope that the newly rebuilt US 85 will be able to function as one carriageway of a four-lane divided highway in the future with minimum modification.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

JREwing78

Could be worse. US-127 is pushing 16000vpd (and climbing) south of Jackson, MI. The highway is still nominally a 2-lane, but has about 1-2 miles of 3-lane (2-lanes with a two-way turn lane in the middle), and two 2-mile stretches of 4-lane undivided as "passing lanes".

Worse yet, it is the primary route from points north and west to Michigan International Speedway.

Still, a highway with 11,000vpd and the level of truck traffic this stretch gets should've gone straight to a 4-lane divided design.

M86

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20111124/UPDATES/311240027/Belle-Fourche-traffic-boosted-by-ND-oil-boom?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

Funny... I just saw this article.  Belle Fourche is about 280 miles south of Williston, ND, along US 85 in SD.  US 85 is also known as the Can-Am Highway... Is this a high-priority corridor too? 

On a side note, the citizens of Belle Fourche were very against a bypass of US 85 for their town.  Soon after, they complained of the traffic.  Duh!

Here's a link:  http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_97afe964-3260-11e0-91ba-001cc4c03286.html

Stupid, really... SDDOT should've built the bypass anyway.

Fortunately, ND was very proactive with their corridors.  US 2 from Minot to Grand Forks has been 4-lane for as long as I can remember, and they connected the stretch between Minot and Williston rather recently.



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