Flaggers keeping busy

The state is continuing most of the road construction in Bowman and Slope counties through October, according to one of the district engineers for the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

However, the locations may be changing soon.

Rob Rayhorn, the district engineers for the North Dakota Department of Transportation’s Dickinson District, said several portions of the planned construction are nearing completion which will allow the companies to move on to the next phase.

In Bowman, many residents have noticed the changes along Highway 85 and Highway 12 in the community.

In Scranton, the city has combined repairs to the water system with the work being done on Highway 67 in town and following the highway north to the intersection with Highway 21.

First to finish

In western Slope County, the state joined with federal funding to repair the bridge at the bridge over the Little Missouri River at Marmarth.

The project was just completed after starting July 11.

“It was preventative maintenance for that bridge,” Rayhorn said. “It was just time to go in and repair some of the poured concrete spalls and work on that expansion joint. We modified some of the drains so the water flows off the deck better and patched the abutments.

“It was just a lot of preventative maintenance to extend the life of the bridge,” he said. The $437,000 project was awarded to a Fargo-based firm, Industrial Builders.

For several weeks, the contractor has been using an alternating signal to control traffic over the bridge while it was reduced to just one lane.

Big impact in Bowman

In Bowman, the repair project in the city and west to Rhame has nearly a $7 million price tag.

There are several parts of the project in Bowman under construction, he explained. “Different parts will be completed at different times. It is going to take the rest of the fall construction season to complete because we are doing the two concrete intersections – that are being worked on now. We are doing the overlaying on Highway 85 through Bowman to the north just two miles. We are doing an overlay from Highway 85 on the west side of Bowman to Rhame. We are paving on the frontage road because that is going to be used as a detour when we work on the roads between the two concrete intersections.

“Between the two concrete intersections, we are going to mill off the pavement and mix some cement into the existing gravel base to give it more support, then pave over the top of that,” he explained.

The roads at the intersections need the reinforcement, according to Rayhorn. “When those heavy vehicles stop and turn, that is very hard on the pavement. That is why those intersections are being changed to concrete.”

He explained that while there is not a predicted design life to the paving at the intersections, the new work is more durable. “They will require less maintenance.” Much of the work in Bowman is being done by a Dickinson-based firm, Northern Improvement Company.

Once the work is done in Bowman, the project will focus on Highway 12 going to Rhame, Rayhorn said. “There will be a flagger and a pilot car to guide them (drivers) through the work zone. There may be up to 10 to 15-minute delays. That should not take very long to pave,” he explained. “It should take a week to two weeks at most.”

The work along Highway 85 as it passes through town is to make the sidewalks ADA compatible. “We are making the intersections ADA compliant,” he explained. “The ramps that were existing didn’t meet the current ADA requirements. We are redoing them to make them meet the ADA requirements.”

That means the new ramps will have what is called truncated domes so that people with impaired vision would be able to sense them. They have to have certain slopes and you have to have flat landing areas and be a certain width,” Rayhorn said.

The work in Bowman started in early August and is expected to continue through October.

Scranton project

In Scranton, the $6.3 million state project joined with a city repairs on the water system, which tore up the streets in the city. “They started in the spring before our construction project started so they could get it done and would not have to rip up the new pavement,” Rayhorn said. “We coordinated with the city to allow that to happen.” The project in Scranton also included bringing the sidewalks and intersections up to ADA standards.

There will be work started shortly on Highway 67 from just north of Scranton to Highway 21, Rayhorn said. “We are going to mill one inch off the top of the pavement, then place two inches of new pavement on top of that for the entire length. We should be completing the construction work before the end of this construction season.”

Mayo Construction is handling the state project work both in Scranton and along the rest of Highway 67.

The state construction project started in early July and is expected to be completed in mid-October.

According to the state, the District office is located in Dickinson with section shops located throughout the district. The Dickinson District maintains state highways in Golden Valley, Billings, Dunn, Mercer, Stark, Slope, Hettinger, Bowman and Adams counties.