Public meetings start this week improvements to US Highway 52, between Minot and Carrington.
The project will mean turn lane improvements, as well as adding “passing lanes.”
"The passing lanes will be spaced approximately one every 10 miles," said Jen Turnbow, the project manager for Ulteig Engineers, who designed the project. "They're about two miles in length."
Turnbow said what's driving the need is economic development and social demands, safety and capacity.
"You might have, on a corridor such as this, high truck traffic, which creates limited passing activity," Turnbow said. "Passing lanes really help with that."
Turnbow said the project will be done in three segments – Carrington to Fessenden, Fessenden to Balfour, and Balfour to Minot. She says construction on that first segment will start in 2022, the second segment in 2023, and the third in 2024.
Meetings are scheduled in Carrington, tomorrow in Velva, Wednesday in Minot and Thursday in Harvey.