MINOT – The North Dakota Department of Transportation is planning to make improvements to the U.S. Highway 83 bypass this summer after Ward County Commissioners agreed this week to have the County pay for part of the project.
The project will be chip sealing, which is a pavement surface treatment that combines layers of asphalt with layers of fine aggregate. The road stretches from the north end of town to the west end.
“They had reconstructed and four-laned that here a couple years ago, and now they’re going to be chip sealing that roadway,” said Dana Larsen, County highway engineer. “They went through and actually changed the alignment and the turn lane, so as a part of their project they’re chip sealing the area that they had paved.”
The project also includes chip sealing a small portion of County Road 10, also known as 46th Avenue Southwest, which is estimated to cost $5,000. Ward County agreed to pay for about $1,000 for the county road and the federal government plans to pay for the rest.
The estimated cost for the entire project is about $1.1 million, and the federal government will pay for $880,000, the state $198,000, and the City of Minot $53,000.
