North Dakota DOT schedules 200 projects totaling $600 million

FARGO (KFGO PRAIRIE PUBLIC) – Several construction projects are already underway in North Dakota and the Department of Transportation wants to encourage the public to partner with the agency in keeping everyone safe this summer.

Matt Linneman, Deputy Director of Engineering with the DOT, said this year the department is embarking on roughly 200 projects totaling $600 million which is more projects than usual. He said drivers will encounter these work zones often, which may add a few minutes to their travel time – but he says speed limits in those work zones are posted for specific reasons.

“We know that that’s inconvenient to the traveling public – and we understand that. But we want everyone to make sure they’re taking the time to go through these work zones, be aware, be alert. This is important work to maintain the state’s investment they’ve put in over the years and is putting forward into the future here. We want to make sure it’s helping everyone get home safe, every night.”

Captain Bryan Niewind with the North Dakota Highway Patrol said troopers will be doing their part this summer enforcing traffic laws in these work zones. Last year, Niewind said there were six fatalities in construction zones and virtually all of them were avoidable.

“About 94, 95% of our crashes that occur in North Dakota are because of some sort of driving error. So we can prevent 94 to 95% of the crashes that occur in North Dakota if we change our driving habits.”

Construction projects for the 2023 season can be found on the NDDOT website.