Walter Piehl, Minot

A big shout out to Bucky Anderson for bringing forth the inadequacy of the N.D. Highway Department’s solution to the outrageous traffic issues on Highway 52 at a recent Ward County Commission meeting. A second shout out to the Minot Daily News and Jill Schramm for choosing it as the front page headline article.

The Ward County Highway Department has shocking statistics of how much traffic, accidents and inadequacies there are on the stretch of road between Minot and Velva. And, those statistics are years old. They show the total short-sightedness of the Bandaid solutions of only passing/turning lanes the N.D. Highway Department is implementing to lessen the danger on Highway 52. They are only now moving forward with this nickel & dime remedy because there is Federal money available.

The stretch of 52 between Minot, the elevators and crushing plant at Verendrye begs an Interstate quality 4 lane to improve its safety and traffic flow. The Highway Department’s big project, 4-laning Highway 85 between Watford City & Belfield, is about complete. Now it is time to focus on safety for a highway with as much traffic, auto, semi & farm machinery as is seen on Highway 2.

Hopefully, legislators in NW North Dakota will step up and force an upgrade to the 52 improvement. Perhaps the Minot Mafia can resurrect itself and convince the legislative 2023 session that the safety of Highway 52 is at least as important as tax reduction.