JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Members of the City Council, North Dakota Department of Transportation, and Interstate Engineering were on hand to provide more details on the proposed Road Diet on Main Street in Jamestown.
Interstate Engineering was tapped as the lead consultant of the project. It would reduce main street from 4 lanes to 3 with a left-turn lane and provide bulbouts, bike racks, benches, and more.
Lead engineer Ben Aaseth says the project will begin on 5th Street NW and continue east to 1st Avenue before going south along main street.
Aaseth says the project will provide a better aesthetic appeal, make downtown more pedestrian friendly, wider driving lanes and parking lanes, and reduce conflict points between pedestrians and motorists.
The road diet would make each lane 12 feet with a 12 foot space for parking down main street. He says this would make Jamestown compliant with the amount of traffic along main, which is estimated to be around 12,000 vehicles daily.
Aaseth says the road diet would also eliminate all but one stoplight on main street. The only stop light would be located at 3rd Street SW next to Alfred Dickey Library.
City Engineer Travis Dillman added to that, saying the road was not just a city road, but it was also considered a federal highway and needed to meet the specifications of that.
Concerns on trains in the community affecting traffic was also addressed. Aaseth says traffic would be backed up approximately to the next block down while waiting for a train. Train wait time was around 4 minutes long.
While the proposed project is still a work in progress, officials asked the public to provide as much input as possible so they would be able to make the best informed choices on the project.
Mike Johnson is with the North Dakota Department of Transportation.
Aaseth says once everything is approved and finalized, they’ll look at beginning preliminary work in July 2020 and finish in the Fall of 2020.
The estimated $3.076 million project would be covered with a grant and includes a federal share of $2.4 million, $275,978 State Share, and $361,522.
Public comments and input are encouraged through November 20th to Interstate Engineering. You can visit interstateeng.com/jamestownroaddiet/ for more information and to submit input.
