The Mandan Expressway is permanently reduced from four lanes to two.

There’s “road diet” on West Main Street! There’s the roundabout on Collins!

Now, what’s up with the 1806 freeway?

Mandan will bear the brunt of major road works this summer. Memorial Highway (The Strip) will begin a multi-year project from 2022. You can take a look at the apocalyptic story I wrote about it by clicking here.

The entire NDDOT Evil Empire Blueprint can also be found by clicking here

This is all happening in the near future, but what is happening right now in South Mandan? Much the same thing happened on West Main Street in Mandan as well as Main Avenue in downtown Bismarck. It’s called a road diet and its use in communities across the country continues to increase. The old “outdated” notion that more lanes means smoother traffic has increasingly been put on this “diet”.

A road diet, or pavement reconfiguration, can improve safety, calm traffic, provide better mobility and access for all road users, and improve the overall quality of life.

A road diet typically involves the conversion of an existing four-lane undivided carriageway to a three-lane carriageway consisting of two passing lanes and a center two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL).

So 1806 heading south from Mandan will soon be a north track and a south track. Currently, there are two paths going in either direction. What was definitely missing on this stretch of road were left turn lanes. People driving in and out of traffic may not pay attention to this sitting duck vehicle waiting to make a left turn. So by adding this turn lane, you minimize the risk of a fairly high-speed rear-end collision.

The good news is that road diets are inexpensive.

The plan pretty much uses existing roads. It would help if when you implement the lane changes you are prepared to immediately redraw the roadway so that we know where we are supposed to go. I still don’t know if Main Avenue Bismarck has completely finished the stripping…it took a long time.

For updates on Project 1806, click here for the Mandan City website.

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