Article Photos

Advertisement

Drivers can expect to see more rumble stripes on highways when new projects are done, says the Minot District engineer for the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

Rumble stripes are grooves made in the center and the edges of highways to alert drivers when their vehicles leave the driving lane. Last year, rumble stripes were added to N.D. Highways 23 and 8 in Ward and Mountrail counties.

Jim Redding, Minot district engineer for the Transportation Department, said rumble stripes will be done more this year with new projects.

"It's being done for safety and we will see more of these," he said.

Highway 23 has rumble stripes from the U.S. Highway 83 and N.D. Highway 23 junction south of Minot to New Town. That project was completed in early November, Redding said.

The rumble stripes on N.D. Highway 8 are from the Highways 23 and 8 junction east of New Town to Stanley, Redding said.

The rumble stripes are made with a machine which moves slowly on the road as it cuts the grooves. When a driver's vehicle touches a rumble stripe, the rumble stripe causes a rumbling sound and a physical vibration, alerting the driver that they are leaving the driving lane.

Rumble stripes are relatively new in North Dakota, Transportation Department officials said. The first ones were implemented in 2008 on N.D. Highway 1806 from Fort Lincoln State Park south of Mandan and south to the junctions of N.D. Highways 24 and 6 near Cannon Ball.

There's also a short stretch of rumble stripes near the Transportation Department's Minot District Office, Redding said.

Rumble stripes are among the safety measures the Transportation Department is doing to make Highways 23 and 8 safer because of the increased and heavy mix of car and truck traffic on these roads. Redding said the traffic continues to increase on these roads with the increased oil activity.

The traffic on Highway 23 includes missile personnel, some with missile transport vehicles, from Minot Air Force Base's 91st Missile Wing going to and from the missile field, casino traffic, farmers moving equipment to and from their fields during spring planting and harvest seasons, and vehicles pulling boats going or coming from Parshall, Van Hook, New Town and other recreation areas in the summer, among all the other traffic.

County and tribal officials and other residents of the areas with heavy oil traffic have voiced their concern about the safety on these highways. Mountrail County commissioners sent a letter in 2008 to the Transportation Department asking that the speeds be reduced from 65 to 55 mph on Highways 23 and 8 and other safety measures because of the increased truck traffic and too many fatalities. The Transportation Department conducted a study of the roads and last year recommended to Mountrail County commissioners some changes to be made as soon as practical but the speed limit reduction was not recommended at that time.

Last week, the Transportation Department and N.D. Highway Patrol implemented immediately reducing the speed limit from 65 to 55 mph on Highways 23 and 8, saying the speed reduction was being done because of the heavy volume of car and truck traffic in these areas.

The speed limit reduction on Highway 23 is from the junction of N.D. Highway 23 west of New Town to the junction of N.D. Highway 37, north of Parshall. On Highway 8 the speed is reduced from the junction of Highway 23 and 8 east of New Town to the junction of N.D. Highway 50 north of Stanley.

Another safety project in the planning for this year is to improve the turning lanes at several intersections on Highway 23, Redding said. Those areas include the Highways 23 and 37 junction north of Parshall, Highway 8 and 23 east of New Town, Plaza corner and Highways 23 and 28 north of Ryder.

Transportation Department officials said the bottom line for the measures being done is safety for the traveling public which they said is a main priority for the department.