County Roads in for a Makeover: NDDOT Releases Four‑Year Repair Schedule
Travis Bateman
Special to The Farmer
The North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) has the bulk of state-maintained roadways in McKenzie County slated for work from 2026-2029 under the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Preventative maintenance, safety improvements, and new road surfaces are all on the list.
Several highways will have surface repair and chip seals performed.
U.S. Highway 85 from milepost 139, near the junction with McKenzie County Road 30, south of Watford City to Williston.
North Dakota Highway 200, between the Montana/North Dakota state line at East Fairview to the junction of U.S. Highway 85, near Alexander.
North Dakota Highway 23, for the entire distance between Watford City and New Town.
North Dakota Highway 1806, north of Watford City to Tobacco Gardens will be worked on and receive two to three inches of new asphalt and sliver grading.
N.D. Highway 73, between Johnsons Corner and for 5.6 miles east with chip sealing. Also scheduled is a slide repair at milepost 8 and culvert extension takes place three miles west of the junction with N.D. Highway 22.
Within city limits and along Watford City’s state-maintained routes of N.D. Highway 23A (local truck route/6th Avenue SW), U.S. Highway 85 (Main Street South and 2nd Ave. SW) will have chip sealing done.
Safety work continues on Main Street South with the addition of a multi-use walk and bike path along the west side of the road. Work commenced in the fall with cement work before pausing for winter. A pedestrian bridge will also be installed to join the vehicle bridge over Cherry Creek.
The major project of the region continues being that of widening U.S. Highway 85 from the Long X Bridge to I-94. A two-phase portion begins this year with the longest being from the south end of “The Breaks” of the Little Missouri River to the junction of N.D. Highway 200, near Grassy Butte. This includes widening of the highway to two lanes each for north and southbound traffic and also includes a center median ditch with crossovers at legal intersections for a total distance of 12.3 miles. A roundabout is to be installed at the junction with U.S. Highway 85 and N.D. Highway 200, and a realignment at the intersection of Grassy Butte’s Main Street junction with Beicegel Creek Road (McKenzie County Road 50) will also take place.
The portion between the Long X Bridge and south end of “The Breaks” will be a multi-year job that requires an immense amount of earth-moving, anchoring, filling, and dirt work to remove a historical location where landslides have occurred. The roadway through this portion will resemble that of U.S. Highway 85, between Watford City and Williston with a full asphalt width and no separation of north and south traffic.
Wildlife fencing and crossings will be built at two locations to further prevent crashes and aid wildlife migration through the rugged badlands that the highway traverses. This will bring a total of four wildlife crossings south of the Little Missouri River which sees a high amount of bighorn sheep and mule deer crossings, in addition to a variety of other wildlife where heavy traffic has often meant high mortality rates.
These projects only reflect state DOT work and do not include other roadways being worked on by McKenzie County or in the City of Watford City networks.
Motorists are reminded to slow for the cone zones, allow extra time for travel, check for lane width, load height or weight restrictions, and to be extra vigilant when work crews are present, along with obeying all speed limits throughout the construction season. Speeding fines are increased in construction zones when work crews are present.
In addition to road work, traffic signals are also on the list. The traffic signal on U.S. Highway 85, at 2nd Avenue SW (West Y) on the west side of Watford City will be completely removed and become a two-way stop intersection, with traffic on U.S. Highway 85 having the right-of-way. The speed limit will remain 55 miles per hour.
The signal at the U.S. Highway 85 and N.D. Highway 68, junction near Alexander and the Wild Bison Travel Center will be replaced with a permanent signal replacing the temporary “wire signals” that currently stand.
For more information and to view the full document, visit the NDDOT’s website for STIP at https://www.dot.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/construction-and-planning/STIP_2026-2029.pdf
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