North Dakota

As bridge repairs add up, North Dakota might need to rethink approach, Gov. Kelly Armstrong says

Published

9 months ago

July 5, 2025

As bridge repairs add up, North Dakota might need to rethink approach, Gov. Kelly Armstrong says

GRAND FORKS — North Dakota has 1,325 bridges identified as needing repairs, according to a national report.

And of the 4,255 bridges in North Dakota, 11% — or 467 of them — are structurally deficient, according to data compiled and distributed by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. North Dakota ranks No. 10 nationally for structurally deficient bridges as a percentage of total bridge inventory, according to the ARTBA.

It’s a statewide problem that may require a new approach, Gov. Kelly Armstrong says, because “there is no way a local county can repair every bridge they have — especially in rural counties.” Some money exists for repairs, the governor said, but there just won’t be enough to fix all of the structures on the ever-growing list of projects.

Perhaps a better plan, according to Armstrong, is to rethink the state’s bridge grid.

“I think eventually the state and (affected) counties are going to have to work out what a 21st-century infrastructure looks like,” he said.

Because of the evolving way North Dakotans live and do business, the state could probably do with fewer bridges, he believes.

“You wouldn’t build the bridge infrastructure the same way in 2025 that was done in 1925. Nobody’s making a living on a quarter-section of land anymore; farming’s an economy of scale. Some of this is, replace the ones you need,” Armstrong said. “You’re going to have to make some tough decisions, particularly if you’re someone that lives on the north side of that bridge or the south side of that bridge and now has to go 6 miles out of their way.”

In northeast North Dakota, where numerous streams and rivers make their way into the north-flowing Red River, the number of bridges needing repair is especially high. For example, three of the top four most-traveled structurally deficient bridges in the state are in Grand Forks County, according to the ARTBA national report.

Atop the list is the Kennedy Bridge, which carries traffic on U.S. Highway 2 across the Red River on the north edge of Grand Forks. No. 2 is the Interstate 29 bridge over Grand Forks’ DeMers Avenue, followed by a Cass County highway over the Sheyenne River. At No. 4 is a rural I-29 bridge over County Drain No. 11, also near Grand Forks.

The long list of bridge repairs in the immediate Grand Forks area is enough to add a certain edge to Nick West’s job as Grand Forks County engineer.

“It’s a little stressful,” West said. “But it’s also rewarding when you can fix them.”

As reported in 2024 by the Herald, Grand Forks County has the most locally owned bridges of any county in the state, at 284. Of those, the county owns somewhere around 250 — the number changes every year, West said. He keeps a list of bridges that are most worthy of attention and tackles a portion of the list each year.

Grand Forks County Administrator Tom Ford says West is “passionate about his job.”

“He has a plan,” Ford said, “and he’s doing an excellent job prioritizing what needs attention. But you fix a couple of bridges, and as you fix a couple, other ones still on the list are aging. You just take it a bridge at a time and culvert at a time and be as responsive as you can.”

The end goal, Ford said, is to repair and fix the people’s infrastructure, “but we can only address what the budget allows,” he said.

West, Ford said, probably feels like he’s playing “Whac-A-Mole,” the old carnival game in which players use a mallet to try to strike fake moles as they poke their heads from holes in a cabinet. As one mole dives into a hole, another arises elsewhere on the board. Over time, the game has become a metaphor for attempting to complete a nearly impossible and frustrating task.

To reduce the number of moles on the board — or in a real sense, the bridges on the list — funding will always be the hurdle, Armstrong, West and Ford all say.

“I’d be lying to you if I said there’s enough (funding) to fix them all,” Armstrong said, adding that fixing all of the bridges “shouldn’t be the goal” if the state someday does rethink its bridge infrastructure.

So-called Prairie Dog funding — dollars derived from oil and gas tax revenues — has been used successfully for bridge repairs, West said. Operation Prairie Dog was created in 2019 as House Bill 1066, which made changes to oil and gas production tax distribution formula.

The bill’s passage provided a “new source of infrastructure funding for cities, counties and townships in non-oil-producing counties and airports throughout the state,” according to a description on the North Dakota Treasurer’s Office website. It allocates up to $250 million of oil and gas tax revenue per biennium to three buckets: municipal infrastructure, county and township infrastructure, and airport infrastructure.

More state money is coming, Armstrong noted.

“We did some things at the legislative session where they moved more money directly to (the Department of Transportation) through (percent of market value), and it allows for more money to be used locally, for more county projects,” he said.

During his January budget address, Armstrong touched on the state’s infrastructure concerns.

“We have construction needs, and our budget addresses them head-on,” he said during the speech.

He proposed a $464 million bonding package to tackle big projects like a new State Hospital in Jamestown; airport projects in Grand Forks, Dickinson and Fargo; and a military gallery at the North Dakota Heritage Center.

“To repay these bonds, we propose increasing the percent of market value, or POMV, which is applied to the Legacy Fund to calculate the earnings available for use every two years,” he told lawmakers.

At the time, the POMV was 7% of the average five-year balance of the Legacy Fund, he said. Armstrong suggested a 1.5% increase, half of which to be used for repaying the bonds for the hospital, airport and Heritage Center projects, with the other half to be used to support state and local infrastructure projects.

The Legislature did not go along with the 1.5% increase to a full 8.5%, but did approve increasing the POMV to 8%. A portion of the increase — 30% — will be used for highway infrastructure projects.

Still, the governor says, it’s important to think about what future travel trends hold for state infrastructure.

“The reality is, our job is to get (the state’s ag products) from farm to market as quickly as possible. What that looks like and what that future looks like is probably different than what people have lived (throughout the years),” Armstrong said. “We’ll fix some of them, (but) there’s no way we’re going to be able to fix them all.”

Prairie Business Editor Carrie McDermott contributed to this report.

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North Dakota

Wisconsin beats North Dakota 2-1 to reach its first Frozen Four final since 2010

Published

2 hours ago

April 9, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin beats North Dakota 2-1 to reach its first Frozen Four final since 2010

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Simon Tassy and Ryan Botterill scored 27 seconds apart in the first period and Wisconsin defeated North Dakota 2-1 on Thursday to put the Badgers in the Frozen Four title game for the first time since 2010.

The Badgers (24-12-2), seeded third in their region, will play the winner between Michigan and Denver in the championship game Saturday. Wisconsin has won six titles, its most recent coming 20 years ago.

Wisconsin defeated North Dakota (29-10-1) for the first time in the NCAA Tournament after going 0-3 against the Fighting Hawks. Wisconsin, which beat a No. 1 seed for the second time in a row, had gone 1-11-2 in its previous 14 meetings with the Hawks.

North Dakota, which came less than a minute from being shut out for the first time in more than a year, has gone a decade since winning its eighth national championship.

Daniel Hauser stopped 21 shots for the Badgers, including tough glove save through traffic while sitting down on a 6-on-5 with 2:05 left.

Front-line center Ellis Rickwood scored North Dakota’s lone goal on a 6-on-5, and Jan Spunar made 35 saves.

The Badgers’ defense limited a North Dakota offense that entered the game third nationally in scoring (3.8 goals per game). But Wisconsin’s forecheck dictated the early points and set the tone.

Wisconsin dominated the first period, taking 18 shots on goal to four. The Badgers scored twice 27 seconds apart when Tassy and Botterill hit the back of the net from the right circle.

Even when the Hawks had chances, they usually failed to take advantage, going 0 for 5 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 in the second period that lasted 1:56. Ollie Josephson also missed a chance in that period to score on a breakaway.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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North Dakota

What channel is North Dakota vs Wisconsin hockey in Frozen Four today? Time, TV schedule to watch

Published

14 hours ago

April 9, 2026

Press Room

What channel is North Dakota vs Wisconsin hockey in Frozen Four today? Time, TV schedule to watch

For one weekend only, the Midwest (and Denver) descends upon Sin City.

The 2026 Frozen Four — the penultimate stage of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship — will open with No. 2 seed North Dakota Fighting Hawks taking on the Wisconsin Badgers in Las Vegas. The Fighting Hawks have been dominant thus far in the tournament, winning their first two games by a combined score of 8-0.

Presumptive NHL draft top-five pick Keaton Verhoeff headlines North Dakota’s roster, but Cody Croal leads the team with three goals in the first two rounds.

Watch Frozen Four games with Fubo (free trial)

North Dakota will be taking on the biggest surprise appearance, with Wisconsin surviving the Worcester Regional Final over No. 3-seed Michigan State in an overtime thriller. The game-winning goal came on a deflection off the stick of Ben Dexheimer, who headily tipped in what looked like a harmless dump-in from the blue line. Wisconsin is looking to be the first team since 2006 to win the men’s and women’s national title in the same season.

The last team to achieve the feat? Wisconsin.

With that, here’s how to watch the Frozen Four match between North Dakota and Wisconsin, including time, TV schedule, streaming information, game odds and more:

What channel is North Dakota vs Wisconsin hockey today in Frozen Four?

The Fighting Hawks-Badgers match will air live on ESPN2, and is available for streaming on the ESPN app (with a cable login) or Fubo, the latter of which has a free trial for new users.

Stream North Dakota-Wisconsin hockey live with Fubo (free trial)

North Dakota-Wisconsin Frozen Four start time today

Time: 5 p.m. ET
Date: Thursday, April 9
Location: T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas)

North Dakota vs. Wisconsin is set for a 5 p.m. ET faceoff on Thursday, April 9, from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

North Dakota vs Wisconsin Frozen Four prediction, picks, odds

Odds from BetMGM as of Wednesday, April 8

Spread: North Dakota (-1.5)
Over/under: 5.5 goals
Moneyline: North Dakota -200 | Wisconsin +154

Prediction: North Dakota 4, Wisconsin 1

Wisconsin is on an incredible run, but its win over Michigan State comes with the caveat the Spartans were without Charlie Stramel for two of their three periods. The trio of Cody Croal, Jack Kernan, and Dylan James do enough to win this game, and North Dakota will play for its first national championship in 10 years.

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North Dakota

UND Track and Field With Split Events

Published

1 day ago

April 8, 2026

Press Room

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Sports Information)– Fighting Hawk track and field is set to split between California and North Dakota for a pair of meets this week, with competition occurring from Thursday to Saturday for UND.

It all begins out west at the Bryan Clay Multis where action will begin at 1 p.m. CT on both Thursday and Friday in Azusa. The Fighting Hawks overlap on Friday as action kicks up at the NDSU Spring Classic at 1 p.m. CT on Friday and 11 a.m. CT on Saturday in Fargo.

Last Time Out

North Dakota track and field collected four total broken school records over the weekend, with two more coming in Saturday competition as the Fighting Hawks took on two meets out in California

MIKE FANELLI TRACK CLASSIC

Saturday competition began for UND in the women’s 10,000-meter run where Elle Sondag crossed the finish line in 36:28.89 in her event debut to take eighth in section one and finish eighth overall. In the men’s portion of the same event, Ethan Adams finished 23rd in section over for 26th overall behind a PR time of 31:19.28 that now ranks ninth in school history.

In the 800-meter run, Gabriella Ruggeri ran a time of 2:10.65 (PR, fifth all-time) to finish fourth in section four and 25th overall in 21 heats of competing athletes. Aleksa Milanovic represented the men and finished second in section six and 13th overall out of 27 heats of competition with a time of 1:51.63.

Then the history-making turned up a notch. Olivia Correale broke the program record in the women’s mile run with her time of 4:47.47 to take first place overall in the event. And the domination continued in addition to the new school history. Katie Rogers took second in 4:52.51 with the second-best time in UND history as Marie-Louise Jorgensen finished fourth with a time of 4:56.93 in her event debut that now ranks third in the record books. Frida Giersdorff rounded out the speedy performances with her 4:57.59 clocking for seventh place and the fourth-best time at UND.

The men’s mile run race followed with the same kind of headlines as Louis-Lys Fanucchi added to the weekend success. He also broke the men’s mile run record with his time of 4:07.75 as Henrik Lindstrot followed in fifth place with a time of 4:10.97, marking a new PR and the third-best time in school history.

TRITON INVITATIONAL

The throwing results continued for North Dakota in San Diego with Fighting Hawks competing in the shot put and discus throw. Julia Matthews tied her outdoor personal best of 46-4 1/4 (14.13m) in the women’s shot put, which ranks eighth in school history, to finished 13th in the event.

STANFORD INVITATIONAL

Late results from yesterday’s competition at Stanford came in with historical performances for North Dakota on Friday evening.

It all began with Giersdorff besting her own school record by over 12 seconds in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase. She ran a new PR time of 10:06.17 to rewrite history and take seventh place in the event. Over in the men’s half of the event, Fanucchi emerged victories with his clocking of 8:42.15, which marks a new PR and the second-best time in school history. Lindstrot came fifth in 8:49.08 for a new personal best and the third-best time in the UND record books.

Another school record fell in the women’s 10,000-meter where Keeler broke another one of her own top marks. She took fourth overall in the event with her time of 31:56.03, which improves her previous school record by nearly 10 seconds. Her locking now sits as the 20th-fastest time in NCAA history.

In section two of the event, Shewaye Johnson ran a 33:44.70 (PR) for the third-best time in UND history and ninth place. Naja Weiler clocked a 33:51.36 (PR, 13th place), which now sits fourth in school history and marks a new freshman record.

Summit League Accolades

Peak Performer of the Week

– Jadyn Keeler – Women’s Track (April 7)

Fight ‘em Hawks!

The Fighting Hawks have already achieved a plethora of new top-10 indoor marks in program history this season, including four chart-topping school records:

*Olivia Correale – Mile Run (No. 1 – 4:47.47)

*Louis-Lys Fanucchi – Mile Run (No. 1, 4:07.75)

*Frida Giersdorff – 3000-meter Steeplechase (No. 1 – 10:06.17)

*Jadyn Keeler – 10,000-meter Run (No. 1 – 31:56.03)

On Tap

North Dakota track and field will take on a plethora of meets next weekend with the Pacific Coast Invitational, Beach Invitational and Bryan Clay Invitational out in California as well as the Tom Tellez Alumni Invitational in Texas.

For updates and more information on North Dakota track and field, follow on social media @UNDtrackfieldXC or visit FightingHawks.com.

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