Ninth Street ramps in West Fargo nearly ready

It's not open yet, but the interstate ramps and overpass expected to make West Fargo easier to navigate have already changed the mayor's driving habits.

"I drive by there on purpose just so I can look at it," Mayor Rich Mattern said of the new bridge that links Ninth Street East and Veterans Boulevard across Interstate 94.

Considering the history, Mattern's rubbernecking is understandable. The interchange has sat on the city's wish list for more than a decade, the linchpin to a new corridor expected to ease access and fuel development south of I-94. Now it's set to open next month.

The $10.7 million project is on schedule, said Kevin Gorder, assistant engineer for the Fargo district of the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Across I-94, the bridge's concrete was poured a week ago and barriers are going in later this week after the pavement is done curing.

By the time West Fargo schools open Aug. 26, north and south traffic should be open on the bridge, he said.

Ramps that will look like those at 45th Street, with a loop in the southwest corner, will be ready for traffic by mid- to late September, Gorder said - assuming the weather cooperates.

The north ramps are already paved, acting as the detour last week when the bridge deck's concrete was being pumped, and ramps to the south are ready to be paved, Gorder said.

Two separate projects on the roads to the north and south of the new exit are also on track, said Barry Johnson, public works director for West Fargo.

Crews widening Ninth Street East from three lanes to five lanes from I-94 to 13th Avenue South, the stretch north of the exit, should be done by the first day of school, he said. West Fargo is paying for that

$1.1 million project.

Fargo and West Fargo are splitting the cost of the

$6 million project building a road south of I-94, running through tracts of undeveloped land to 32nd Avenue South. Earlier this year, that road was named Veterans Boulevard, which "was basically a driveway" before the construction began, Johnson said.

Veterans Boulevard will start out as a two-lane road with a third lane for turning but may expand to five lanes, when the additional capacity is needed, Johnson said. It should be ready to open by the time the ramps open in September.

The overpass will be the only way to cross the freeway from 45th Street to Sheyenne Street. Adding more passage across I-94 is huge in a city bound in by the interstate for decades.

"You couldn't really get to it unless you went way south," Mattern said of the land along Veteran Boulevard, portions which have commercial zoning.

It's also important for the schools, Mattern said. The middle school, ninth-grade center and high school all sit along that corridor.

"It'll make life 20 times easier for the school district," he said.

Inforum searchword: West Fargo

Readers can reach Forum reporter

Dave Roepke at (701) 241-5535

1/2: Industrial Builders crews work on the bridge deck as workers from Northern Improvement build the streets leading up to the new interchange at Ninth Street in West Fargo. Photos by David Samson / The Forum

2/2: Traffic flows under the new Ninth Street interchange under construction in West Fargo.