NDDOT to repair exit 257, pursue removal of interchange The NDDOT will move forward with its planned structure rehabilitation project on exit 257. The rehabilitation project on exit 257 will be paid for using federal and state dollars.
JAMESTOWN — Exit 257 at Jamestown will be repaired this summer, and the North Dakota Department of Transportation will pursue the removal of the interchange in the long term, according to a document the NDDOT sent to Mayor Dwaine Heinrich.
“In the long-term, the existing partial interchange configuration is also not amenable to NDDOT,” the document said. “At such time when the Exit 257 structure needs to be replaced or a safety concern arises from the current conditions, NDDOT will pursue the removal of this interchange in its entirety.”
The NDDOT will move forward with its planned structure rehabilitation project on exit 257. The rehabilitation project on exit 257 will be paid for using federal and state dollars.
No timeline has been established for the project because it is still being designed, said Michael Johnson, urban engineer in the local government division at the NDDOT.
The project includes repairs to the abutments, spalls, expansion joints and approach slabs and putting a new surface over the driving surface of the bridge deck, he said. He said the repairs were identified as part of NDDOT’s statewide bridge inspection process that it does on all of its structures.
“Right now with the structure rehabilitation project we are pursuing, we anticipate depending on how it reacts to future loading and traffic, that could last anywhere from five to 10 years,” he said. “Maybe it could go a little bit longer if everything performs well. When it gets close to that time again of considering another rehabilitation project or something larger, that’s when we would start our conversation with the city again and revisit our options for that area.”
Heinrich said making the repairs are just “kicking the can down the road.” He said in January that the city’s position is not having anything less than what it already has, which is a westbound on-ramp and an eastbound off-ramp.
“If all we are asking for is to keep what we have now, I don’t see why that is in any way, shape or form unreasonable,” he said, referring to having a westbound on-ramp and an eastbound off-ramp.
Johnson said the NDDOT has not identified any safety concerns with exit 257. He said the city of Jamestown was provided information about the current design of exit 257 and how it interacts with Interstate 94.
He said a left-hand exit is not a desirable design anymore because the close proximity between exits 256 and 257, which are about 1 mile apart, creates traffic interaction on I-94 that has shown a crash history and the potential for an increase in accidents relative to the rest of the interstate system.
“The DOT has a policy where we like to see a minimum of 2 miles between interchanges in an urban area,” he said. “But federal guidance allows us to go down to a minimum of 1 mile.”
Other factors in pursuing the removal of exit 257 are overheight loads striking the structure in the past and it only provides two movements – an eastbound off and westbound on, Johnson said.
“So we worked with them quite a bit at looking at options relating to how we could provide a different type of interaction in that area related to the interstate and access over the interstate,” he said. “We’ve discussed those options with the city and at this time we are moving forward with the rehabilitation project.”
City of Jamestown’s proposed designsThe NDDOT said it reviewed the city’s proposed concept design for an interchange at exit 257.
Heinrich said exit 257 was not designed by the city of Jamestown and correcting the design should be done at the expense of the NDDOT.
The city of Jamestown has proposed overpass designs at exit 257. The first is a new overpass west of Calvary Cemetery that would connect to 18th Avenue Southwest south of I-94 and go north to 17th Street Southwest. The overpass includes a right-hand eastbound off-ramp and a westbound on-ramp.
Eighteenth Avenue Southwest is a street that would be located directly west of a planned commercial implement dealership and east of the new Anne Carlsen Center and has not been developed in that area. The street would be located just north of 20th Street Southwest, which is the road that is just south of Jamestown Regional Medical Center.
“The DOT was concerned about it not being a mile from 256,” Heinrich said.
He said the alternate designs have to do with the eastbound traffic. He said the first alternative would have an off-ramp for eastbound traffic on the west side of the new overpass.
The other alternative to get the eastbound off-ramp a mile from exit 256 is to allow eastbound traffic to go under the new overpass and have an off-ramp that would take motorists to 17th Avenue Southwest. Seventeenth Avenue Southwest is located where 20th Street, which is south of JRMC, and 23rd Street Southwest, which is north of Menards, meet west of Menards where there is a kinked U-shaped street.
“ … We allow the traffic to go past the overpass, take a right and come down the section line road where the funky curve is down the road,” Heinrich said. “Then of course if they come to town they would have the option to take a left going to Menards, have the option of taking a right going toward the hospital, Anne Carlsen, or going back to the overpass on into Jamestown.”
He said if the eastbound off-ramp cannot be within a mile of exit 256 the off-ramp could be located after the new overpass.
“So when you are driving on I-94 you go under the overpass and then you go a little distance then make a right off onto the section-line road (17th Avenue Southwest),” Heinrich said. “And then on the westbound, they could keep the westbound as it is or design it however they wish, as long as you can get back to the interstate at that location.”
City Engineer Travis Dillman said closing exit 257 and having a new overpass built will help alleviate the stress on 25th Street Southwest, which is the road that goes by Applebee’s and the site where Perkins Family Restaurant was formerly located. He said building the overpass would give another route for people to get to the area of future development near JRMC.
“I think we are all very much aware that it would be beneficial to Jamestown to have an overpass there so traffic could cross over the interstate at that location to get easier access to Menards and the hospital and new Anne Carlsen Center area,” Heinrich said. “That’s not difficult to understand. It can be done where it is not detrimental to Jamestown.”
Dillman said a study would need to be done to see what the impacts are of removing exit 257, especially if Bison World is in Jamestown.
“We do believe some sort of configuration to allow a left off at 257 even if we configured it helps alleviate some of the stress at 258,” he said.
Johnson said the NDDOT will collect data on traffic counts and patterns when exit 257 is repaired. He said exit 257 will be shut down for a period of time so the repairs can be made to the structure while some work can be done without closing the exit.
“I think it will help and I think it helps the DOT because some of those are tied to the DOT corridor,” Dillman said, referring to the NDDOT collecting data. “ … I think the big thing really is with the future growth patterns and especially with Bison World looking at that, that’s where a lot more traffic coming into the Jamestown area in that general area is going to be a concern that needs to be addressed. There are solutions to all of these. It just needs to be taken into consideration that we make sure that it has a minimal negative traffic impact.”
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Topic: North Dakota (Read 14306 times)