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.

“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.”