North Dakota
Casselton leaders request signs to show motorists bypass route
CASSELTON, N.D. — Casselton leaders want signage that will guide trucks and passenger vehicles to a bypass west of the city instead of through the heart of the small town.
The Cass County Commission has thrown its support behind Casselton’s efforts to reroute North Dakota Highway 18 traffic. Commissioners voted unanimously Monday, Oct. 6, to sign letters of support for two projects: one to encourage the North Dakota Department of Transportation to install signs showing the bypass route and another asking the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Council of Governments to study the potential for turn lanes on Highway 18 south of Casselton.
Highway 18 takes traffic that turns off Interstate 94 at Exit 331 north through Casselton’s residential and downtown area, as well as by Central Cass High School. Bill Hejl, a retired farmer from nearby Amenia, suggested posting signage for the bypass route as a way to help motorists find the more efficient route around town to businesses west of the city.
Contributed / Cass County Commission
“I’ve watched some semis coming from the north on Highway 18 from Amenia and go all the way through Casselton and then turn right and go west on I-94,” he said. “They could have taken the bypass route to the ethanol plant.”
Casselton leaders will ask the DOT to install signs that direct I-94 traffic to use Exit 328 to Lynchburg, about 3 miles west of Exit 331, to drive north on Cass County Highway 26. That runs into Cass County Highway 10, and motorists can then drive east to Highway 18 just north of Casselton.
The city also will ask the DOT to install a sign that would show southbound traffic on Highway 18 that vehicles can take Highway 10 to Highway 26, then to I-94.
The new signs would show several businesses along the bypass route, including the Tharaldson Ethanol and North Dakota Soybean Processors plants.
Many vehicles use the bypass route already, but signs will show those that go through town that there is an alternate route, Mayor Michael Faught said.
Anna Paige / The Forum
“We love to have them go through town, utilizing the stores, but this just kind of sets it up so truckers know there’s a (bypass) route,” he said.
The intersection of Highway 18 and Fifth Street North near Central Cass gets busy, especially during the harvest season, Faught said. A lot of vehicles go through that intersection, and roughly 1,100 students and staff members come to the school building each school day, said Central Cass Superintendent Morgan Forness.
“That’s a major intersection that brings both city, county and state highways all to the same intersection,” Forness said. “It’s also the access point for our school. So you can imagine, every morning 1,100 people converge on this site. It’s basically the one access point to the school.”
The school has access to parking lots so parents can drop off children in the lots, instead of while on Fifth Street, Forness said.
There are safety concerns about truck traffic going by the school, he said, especially as the community continues to grow. Discussions about adding bypass route signs is a timely topic, Forness said.
“When that number of people are coming to the school, for the most part, at the same time in the morning or leaving at the same time in the afternoon, it’s a very congested site for us,” he said. “Safety for students and those who walk and bike amidst a lot of traffic is something that we want to really stay on top of.”
Hejl is a nonvoting member of the Casselton Job Development Authority. His son, John Hejl, is the Casselton fire chief.
Signs directing vehicles to the bypass not only means less traffic going by the school, Bill Hejl said. It also will unclog streets for emergency vehicles, allowing for faster response times, he said.
“We just want to make sure our community, our residents and students are safe there,” Faught said. “We are just trying to be as safe as possible.”
A new North Dakota Department of Public Instruction survey seeks statewide feedback on potential changes to how students are using technology.
Superintendent Levi Bachmeier, who
took over the state’s top education role
in November, said he hopes the survey results will inform policymakers on potential reforms to school-issued device policies across the state. During his first student Cabinet meeting, he said a Mandan freshman told him the devices needed to be a “tool, not a toy.”
“The world that these young people are inheriting requires them to use technology responsibly, but we know that these devices are just as addictive as substances,” Bachmeier said during a press conference Thursday. “And that can be just as true for the school-issued device in their hands as the cellphone they carry around in their pocket.”
North Dakota
banned the use of cellphones
during the school day during the 2025 legislative session, something Bachmeier said has received a near universal
positive response
during its first year in effect.
The cellphone ban triggered a migration of some students from using their cellphones to access YouTube and other social media sites to using their school-issued laptops or tablets, Bachmeier said.
The
survey
includes questions about restrictions on device usage in elementary school, a potential prohibition on taking devices home, built-in make-up days into school scheduling before using virtual instruction and whether the state should require districts to use monitoring software on the devices.
He added that some school districts already have monitoring software that tracks student technology usage, but it is not a uniform policy.
“It’s inconsistent,” Bachmeier said. “Our challenge is how do we find what’s the best that is going on in North Dakota and make that a reality for every student in our state.”
Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, a lawmaker who sponsored multiple education bills during the 2025 legislative session, said any potential reforms to technology policies should enhance instruction, support learning and allow students to develop interpersonal and critical-thinking skills.
“This effort today is not about eliminating technology from education,” Axtman said. “It’s about ensuring that technology serves learning rather than competes with it.”
Axtman said any potential changes to school device policies could be proposed during the 2027 legislative session and be implemented for the 2027-28 school year.
“By working towards clear statewide expectations for school-issued device use, we will help schools create learning environments that are more focused, more productive and healthier for students,” she said.
The
survey
can be filled out by any North Dakota student, parent, educator or community member through Aug. 1.
This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com.
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VALLEY CITY — A truck hauling bees rolled over Thursday, May 28, on westbound Interstate 94 near mile marker 292 near Valley City, releasing millions of bees and closing the right lane of traffic.
The crash was reported at about 4:45 p.m. Thursday, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol. Officials said the westbound right-side lane was closed following the rollover.
Millions of bees were released in the crash, and beekeepers were called to the scene to help recover and contain the insects.
Officials said the cable barrier area marked where large groups of bees had clustered.
Drivers were asked to slow down, follow directions from emergency responders and give crews and the bees plenty of space while work continued at the scene.
WIBAUX, Mont. (KFYR) – Several fire departments from both North Dakota and Montana are fighting a grass fire about 40 miles south of Wibaux in the Pine Unit area.
The editor of the Wibaux Pioneer Gazette tells us no structures are in danger at this time, and the Wibaux, Beach, Golva and Glendive Fire Departments are working to put out the flames.
The public is asked to avoid the area at this time.
Copyright 2026 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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