Jill Schramm/MDN Paul Benning, project manager with WSB, shares information about roundabouts at a public meeting on a proposed roundabout about 2 miles west of Minot.

A proposed roundabout is the best solution to a problematic intersection 2 miles west of Minot, according to the Ward County Highway Department and consulting engineers.

Ward County, along with WSB, an engineering and design consulting firm, held a meeting Tuesday, Feb. 17, to give the public a chance to learn about plans to improve junction alignment at County Roads 14 and 17 and provide input.

The top public concern all along has been as expected, and that is the functionality of a roundabout to handle trucks and other large equipment, Ward County Engineer Dana Larsen said. Those issues are being addressed, he added.

“Whether you are pulling an air seeder or combine, or you’re hauling an excavator, it’s going to function very well, and it’s not overly complicated and you are not hitting curbs,” he said.

Andrew Plowman, project engineer with WSB, agreed large equipment has been taken into account.

“We are looking for a lot of feedback, too, from folks about what type of machinery and trucks are going to be coming through here,” he said. “We’ll have a truck apron on the interior that does allow for oversized trucks to be able to navigate through. It also is a pretty large roundabout. It’s 190-foot diameter.”

Additionally, there will be mountable curb leading up to the splitter island that will allow vehicles to drive on that extra space, Plowman said. On the outside edge, there will be a flush 4-foot concrete strip.

“Really, we have at least 20 feet of room as you come into the roundabout. With mountable curb, that helps with that even more,” he said. Balanced with speed reduction and other favors associated with roundabout safety, the goal is to have the design, once finalized, be accommodating to any vehicle types that will use that intersection, he said.

Larsen said the goal is to bid the project between November 2026 and February 2027 for construction in the summer of 2027. About four years ago, the county received a federal Highway Safety Improvement Grant through the state, which will cover 90% of the cost, estimated at $2.9 million.

Plowman said traffic counts at the CR 14 and CR 17 intersections have been projected out to 20 years. Even with fairly extensive growth, a single land roundabout should handle future traffic, he said.

A traffic study is in progress. However, Plowman said, everything points to a roundabout as the safest, most effective way to improve traffic at that intersection and prevent severe crashes.

The roundabout would be part of a larger corridor project. The first steps in the larger project are the intersection improvements at CR 17 and CR 14 and at CR 17 and U.S. 2/52, Larsen said.

Those who were unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting but would like more information or to provide comments, can go to co.ward.nd.us, type “CR14 and CR17 intersection improvements” into the search bar and follow the link.