Bismarck roads and driving

[Trip McNeely]

Bismarck far and away has the worst traffic control/flow setup in ND and possibly the entire Midwest……add to that some of the slowest drivers in a metro area…….. change my mind. Lived in the area for going on 17 years now and it’s terrible. And continues to get worse. Main arterial roads flow at 10-15 below the speed limit in most areas and you hit 3/4 or more of the stop lights on the main arterial roads. In a town/city this size it shouldn’t take 30-45 minutes to drive 8 miles. Add to that there are no clover leaf exits on the interstate and every interchange and arterial road intersection is a clusterfuck at best. Furthermore I’m very glad they are improving and repairing the roads around town but do they need to work on every phucking main arterial road at the same time all summer long? I don’t know if our traffic control and engineering people need to go back to school or need some new ideas or what but “trying really hard” “ there’s unique circumstances” aren’t cutting it.

 

[tikkalover]

Ha ha, try driving in Minot, same shit different city.

 

[Obi-Wan]

Bismarck far and away has the worst traffic control/flow setup in ND and possibly the entire Midwest……add to that some of the slowest drivers in a metro area…….. change my mind. Lived in the area for going on 17 years now and it’s terrible. And continues to get worse. Main arterial roads flow at 10-15 below the speed limit in most areas and you hit 3/4 or more of the stop lights on the main arterial roads. In a town/city this size it shouldn’t take 30-45 minutes to drive 8 miles. Add to that there are no clover leaf exits on the interstate and every interchange and arterial road intersection is a clusterfuck at best. Furthermore I’m very glad they are improving and repairing the roads around town but do they need to work on every phucking main arterial road at the same time all summer long? I don’t know if our traffic control and engineering people need to go back to school or need some new ideas or what but “trying really hard” “ there’s unique circumstances” aren’t cutting it.

Those in charge now love bike lanes and turning 4 lanes into 3 lanes to add you guessed it, bike lanes.

 

[Trip McNeely]

Ha ha, try driving in Minot, same shit different city.

I drive in minot a fair amount and other than broadway by the river or “downtown” or during the state fair it seems to move a lot quicker than here in Bismarck. Maybe you guys don’t get as many 29 in a 40 people

 

[grumster]

it all depends on the time in which you're driving. drive around after 9pm and it's fine,,

 

[Shockwave]

More round a bouts, please!

 

[Sum1]

Yeah what the hell is with these bike lanes in Bismarck. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bike in one.

 

[Trip McNeely]

More round a bouts, please!

Except there’s somehow still a portion of the population that doesn’t know how to use them and stops completely if there’s a car not even in the round a bout yet. But I agree they need way more round abouts to help keep the flow

 

[Fester]

Bismarck far and away has the worst traffic control/flow setup in ND and possibly the entire Midwest……add to that some of the slowest drivers in a metro area…….. change my mind. Lived in the area for going on 17 years now and it’s terrible. And continues to get worse. Main arterial roads flow at 10-15 below the speed limit in most areas and you hit 3/4 or more of the stop lights on the main arterial roads. In a town/city this size it shouldn’t take 30-45 minutes to drive 8 miles. Add to that there are no clover leaf exits on the interstate and every interchange and arterial road intersection is a clusterfuck at best. Furthermore I’m very glad they are improving and repairing the roads around town but do they need to work on every phucking main arterial road at the same time all summer long? I don’t know if our traffic control and engineering people need to go back to school or need some new ideas or what but “trying really hard” “ there’s unique circumstances” aren’t cutting it.

Agree..a lot has to do with the city ENGINEERS/traffic dept. I believe they purposely try and slow traffic to control the speed vs moving traffic. I called one time after sitting at a traffic light for 15 min..finally went around the block and same people were still sitting there. The guy I spoke with gave two shits about what I was telling him(wasn’t first time for this light)…our traffic is horrible and if all the employees have the mentality of the guy I spoke with I am 100% not surprised.

 

[Fester]

Those in charge now love bike lanes and turning 4 lanes into 3 lanes to add you guessed it, bike lanes.

You are talking about the commissioners…one was booted out in an election and slithered his way onto the burleigh county commission via Brian Bitner…both will not get my vote

 

[svnmag]

 

[Obi-Wan]

You are talking about the commissioners…one was booted out in an election and slithered his way onto the burleigh county commission via Brian Bitner…both will not get my vote

I am talking about the city engineer Gabe Shell. This POS practices extortion when one is attempting to get a building permit. He will sit on the permit until he gets what he wants even when what he wants goes agains city ordinances and ND century code. The commissioners are just the puppets who pretend to listen to public input but vote how they want or told because they know better and their vote was pre determined before public meetings.

 

[Rowdie]

What's wrong with the Expressway Bridge? Seems like it's ALWAYS getting worked on.

 

[rksolid]

Also why all the neck benders on some of the off ramps or intersections on river road. Instead of coming off the ramp and looking left or right you're at a angle and have to turn your head like an owl. I agree most people don't go the speed limit on expressway or state street and when you pass them you feel like you're speeding.

 

[wslayer]

Not everyone that drives in Bismarck, live there. You know the roads and what's ahead, they don't . . . Just an assumption !
Still not as hectic as Fargo, (sorry Fargo people)
Expansion for that city was too rapid and I don't think got planned out as it maybe should have been.

 

[Pheasant 54]

I really dont know where to start , the bike lanes are due to a previous Mayor Mike S I believe. What a fricken waste, the main street down to 2 lanes is an utter disaster . How about expressway from 94 to Sams , very little chance you will ever get upto speed unless you weave in and out constantly. There are certain lights in town you end up having to run on red if its early morning like for fishing or hunting.
At my last physical the doc asked me if my blood pressure is ever high , I told him every time I get behind a Minivan, Subaru, Toyota Camry or Buick while driving in town . How about the pulling our right if front of you and then driving 10 miles under the limit .

 

[zoops]

Can't say I notice too many issues with traffic in town other than obvious issues when construction is going on. Definitely not ideal that the main artery to get from north to south takes you through downtown and is only 25 mph for part of it, plus washington only being 2 lanes. North Bis is definitely a rat race at peak times so I try to stay away if possible. Go commute through the burbs of Mpls and then let us know what you think of ND traffic

 

[Trip McNeely]

We’re talking about a city of this size. I’m not trying to compare it actual cities of 500k or larger such as Minneapolis. I understand traffic will not always be ideal. What I’m stating is for a city this size it’s the worst I’ve seen. There’s no justifiable reason it needs to be like this. Start getting the lights to line up so you can actually get somewhere. Make the arterial roads flow faster. Wouldn’t be that hard. Getting onto a main road from a side street may take longer but once you are you can move. I can see why city police don’t bother pulling people over for speeding. You have a hard time even getting close to the speed limit a lot of the time. On the rare occasion I can get over the speed limit and hammer it down to make up time I already have my speech planned out “well officer I was speeding in this small section here because the last 6 miles I was going 23 in a 45 so I figured I needed to balance it out”

 

[Kurtr]

No problems for me getting around.

 

[NodakBob]

The traffic signals are timed for inbound city traffic in the morning and for outbound traffic in the p.m..
IF the signaled intersections were all uniformly spaced at the ideal spacing for the given speed limit, only then can you time the signal progression to work equally well both directions.
(retired traffic engineer)