Jill Schramm/MDN Construction occurs at the Burdick Expressway and 16th Street Southwest intersection June 4. Work is expected to continue on 16th Street until Oct. 4.

The closure of a section of 16th Street Southwest for reconstruction will continue to inconvenience motorists into October. However, the result will be improvements to the road surface and new left turn lanes and traffic signals, Minot City Engineer Lance Meyer said at Monday’s neighborhood meeting on road construction.

The city held the meeting at Minot High School, next to the epicenter of work on 16th Street at the moment. Meyer said the intersection of Burdick Expressway and 16th Street, which closed May 27, will remain closed until early to mid-July. As that portion of the project around Burdick is completed, construction will continue moving south along 16th Street to its end point at 14th Avenue Southwest. The contract date for project completion is Oct. 4.

Additional work on 16th Street Southwest, north of Burdick Expressway to Second Avenue Southwest, is tentatively set for 2028. Meyer explained the street work was split into two projects to take advantage of available federal funding. Two smaller projects with separate time frames will enable the city to allocate more federal dollars. Meyer said the southern portion was most in need of reconstruction so is being done first.

He noted the pavement on 16th Street near the high school tends to break up easily.

“There’s an underground spring that is underneath there that they’ve been battling since they built that road back in the ’70s. For this project, we will remove all that bad dirt that is underneath and put a pavement section on there that will last,” he said. “There’s also a lot of storm water that we have to deal with on this project. The drainage basin for this overall area is about 200 acres. That all wants to come down through the underpass. So, we have to intercept that drainage, put it in some detention ponds and then meter that water out so that it won’t flood the intersection as deep and as long.”

The current $11.2 million project will replace the asphalt pavement with new concrete pavement from 14th Avenue to Burdick Expressway and reconstruct the Burdick Expressway intersection with new concrete pavement. The completed roadway will have dedicated left turns at 11th Avenue, 11½ Avenue and 14th Avenue.

Other features include a 10-foot wide shared-use path along the east side of 16th Street, a 30 mph transition speed zone from 11th Avenue to Burdick Expressway, new lighting on 16th Street, installation of a new storm sewer trunk line, and drainage improvements east of 16th Street at 12th Avenue.

The existing traffic signal at 16th Street and 11th Avenue is so old that it can’t be coordinated with the signal at Burdick. Replacing the old signal will enable traffic to flow more smoothly, Meyer said.

One area resident at the meeting raised concern about the amount of dust kicked up by the construction. The dust clouds the air, coats the trees and plants and makes it difficult to breathe or engage in any outdoor activities, she said.

Meyer responded the matter will be looked into. The project contract includes a provision requiring the contractor to keep soil moist to manage dust, he said.

“The good news is they’re almost done with the major dirt work,” he noted of the area associated with the retention ponds. Contractors will be spreading topsoil and planting a temporary cover crop until grass can be established. The nature of future work along 16th Street should be less dusty, he added.

Meyer also explained the closure of traditional vehicle access to some businesses at 11th Avenue – while inconvenient for neighbors – has been for safety reasons while utility relocation is being done.

In total, the city’s engineering department is managing 13 projects totaling $43 million this construction season, said Meyer, who highlighted some of those projects at Monday’s meeting. A number of maintenance projects also are planned.

Although rideability isn’t included, an assessment of Minot’s streets for condition of the pavement has shown 65% of streets are in good, or better, condition. Minot’s pavement condition index of 77 is close to Bismarck at 79 and Grand Forks at 81, but the desire is to see that index at 80, Meyer said. For that reason, the city has been ratcheting up its street maintenance budget.

“We want to be around $14 million or a little bit higher,” said Meyer, who is recommending $13 million in the 2026 budget. “It’s going to be a tight budget year, like it always is. So, it’ll be a hard decision for council on where we want to spend those dollars, but we’re going to start with $13 million and work through the budget process and see where that goes.”

The City of Minot’s next neighborhood meeting will be Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at The Learning Tree, 800 University Ave. W. The topic will be water main replacement.