Too Much Traffic | Video

Jenny Castro | 6/25/2012

If you`ve lived in Minot for more than a couple of years, you know that it used to take about five minutes to drive from one end of town to the other. Not anymore.

City officials say plans are in the works to reduce the traffic on the main roadways.

Traffic stays pretty busy for just the middle of the morning, but it`s twice as busy during rush hour. For people who have been in Minot a while, it seems like this traffic came out of nowhere.

"It`s kind of a big deal when traffic all of a sudden increases over the last couple of years to where it was anticipated to be in the year 2026,” said city traffic engineer, Stephanie Harmon.

Besides the wait, the increasing traffic is also posing problems for law enforcement who say they`re having slower response times. Plus people are more likely to speed in residential areas if they`re running late.

But the city is making plans to decrease this traffic. First in the works is construction on 13th st southeast. The traffic lights on the US 2 and 52 bypass were constructed last year which opening up more traffic to this street, but now it will continue south with three lanes.

"So basically you can go down 13th street and you can come across 37th avenue and connect to Broadway which will be pretty beneficial. It`ll get a lot of that traffic off of south Broadway," said Harmon.

Since more in-depth information is necessary for the much needed transportation routes, there will be a city-wide transportation study which will take into consideration the areas of future land use in Minot.

"Having some guide is essential, especially when we`re planning and for new development purposes," said Harmon.

The study will start at the end of the summer and continue into the fall. From there, the city will have a clear idea of the best way to cut down the traffic.

Construction is scheduled at 37th avenue southeast by Walmart for 2014 and will also include a walking trail. After that, the city plans to work on 31st street southeast in 2015.

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