South Columbia Road and 43rd Avenue South

Background

The City of Grand Forks continues to expand, and recently has stretched its reach southward for both commercial and residential development. This expansion has driven the need for upgraded roadway features to ensure safe, efficient travel.

The Project

To serve new commercial development, HEI and developers began this project with surveys and site plan design. During roadway preliminary design, the developer requested that the roadway be considered as public right-of-way for maintenance purposes.

HEI worked with the City of Grand Forks to make this a reality as HEI’s team was concurrently working on the City’s 43rd Avenue Circle project. As part of the City’s capital improvement plan, a traffic signal system was proposed at this location. HEI combined these goals into one effort to streamline the process and allow for better coordination during construction.

By combining these two projects, HEI and the City were able to save time and reduce impacts to the traveling public. The design gave special consideration to the flow and access from the intersection of South Columbia Road to the cul-de-sac turnaround on the east end of the project.

This completed project had its final items installed in the spring of 2021. Although this project is complete, its unique design will accommodate future intersection improvements planned by the City of Grand Forks (such as the shared use path that was built the following summer).