Take a moment to consider the following: each oil well in the Bakken requires about 2,024 deliveries from big semis until the drilling and fracking processes are completed. Multiply that times 187, the number of rigs currently in development, as of Sept. 25. Being aware of numbers like that might help to psychologically prepare you to use more caution the next time you have to hit the highways. Not that you need to be reminded – a trip down Highways 85 or 22 can be an instantaneous wake-up call, as can highway accident statistics.
For each well, this includes 600 truck trips to haul water, 100 truck trips for hydraulic fracturing tanks, and 80 truckloads each of sand and gravel, plus trucks to transport rig equipment, drilling mud, chemicals, cement and pipe, according to a report from the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University.
Being aware of numbers like that might help to psychologically prepare you to use more caution the next time you have to hit the highways. Not that you need to be reminded – a trip down Highways 85 or 22 can be an instantaneous wake-up call, as can highway accident statistics.
In 2011, 148 people died on N.D. roads, 43 more than in 2010, according to North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) statistics. McKenzie and Ward counties had the greatest number of fatal crashes with 13 each, Williams County had 10 fatal crashes and Stark County had one fatality. Pickups, vans and utility trucks
Pickups, vans and utility trucks accounted for 47.9 percent of the fatal crashes in 2011. The number of injured drivers in North Dakota in 2011 was 5,022, up from 4,682 injured drivers in 2010. When you must travel on Bakken roadways such as highways 85 and 22, there are tips that can help you stay safer. Will Brown, a field service mechanic with Tooz Construction in Dickinson, drives a 5-ton truck on busy highways as part of his job and has advice about sharing the road with the big rigs. “Give truckers the space and stay off the cell (phone),” Brown said.
“I was on a service call and I’m following a tanker truck and this gal cut in right between us. I was probably seven counts behind him (the tanker truck) because we were going about 65. This gal cut right between us. And if that truck would have hit his brakes, that gal would have been gone.” In driver’s education class back in high school, perhaps you learned about the three- second rule, where you watch the vehicle in front of you pass a landmark, then start counting until you pass the same landmark in your vehicle. Brown said three counts isn’t good enough for him. “I usually go by one count per 10 miles I’m going,” he said, saying he normally would count to six if he was traveling 60 miles per hour. “And if I’m in my service truck I count 7, because I’m a 5-ton. It’s a lot heavier than a car.” Brown finds that not only are many drivers unaware of how long it takes for a large truck to slow down, they also often travel too close behind large trucks. “I might just see a shadow, if that, if the vehicle is following too close,” Brown said. Truckers, too, take their share of the blame in some cases.
Discussing the topic at Tiger Discount Truck Stop in Dickinson, Brown’s fiancée, Leslie Ziegler, chimed in: “The truckers think they are the King of the Road.” Brown didn’t disagree. “On Highway 85, I’ve literally seen it where the trucker pulls out right in front (of oncoming traffic) and they don’t care. They just do not care. It’s sad ... more than likely, they know that you’re going to end up just standing on your brakes,” Brown said. But what to do if a big semi is following too closely behind you and there’s no passing lanes and no places to turn off the road, such as the Belfield to Watford City stretch of Highway 85? “If they (the big trucks) make you uncomfortable, I would just pull over to the side of the road and let the convoy pass you, if you can do so safely,” Brown said.
What the candidates for governor propose to do Jeff Zent of Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s office, said they are studying the latest report from NDSU’s Upper Great Plains Transportation Insti- tute entitled “An Assessment of County and Local Road Infrastructure Needs in North Dakota” as part of its infrastructure planning. Dalrymple in late August proposed investing $2.5 billion in statewide infrastructure improvements during the 2013-2015 biennium, which includes $1 billion for extraor- dinary highway and road maintenance projects and an additional $145 million for the County and Township Road Reconstruction program, of which $4 million helped to build the first Williston temporary bypass.
Ryan Taylor, who’s running for governor against Dalrymple, said the governor should have called another special session to deal with infrastructure issues, including highway construction. As he looked over the NDSU study, Taylor said it became apparent that “it’s evident that there’s more infrastructure needed where the (oil) impact is. There’s a problem that has not been fixed to this point in time,” he said. “I think there’s always challenges in getting the resources deployed, I think we could have been more aggressive in getting out in front of the problem, getting resources out there more quickly, which would mean calling a (legislative) session in the midst of the biennium instead of wait- ing for the Legislature to come in on a once-every-two-year basis. Things move pretty quickly in the oil-producing counties right now, and waiting two years is like an eternity.”
Taylor also said he would add another 143 law enforcement officials, which would include nine more state patrol officers to help enforce highway safety laws as well as adding local law enforcement officials and staff. Amanda Godfread, communications director for Dalrymple’s election campaign, responded to Taylor’s criticism of the governor: “No one has put more focus and urgency on infra- structure in North Dakota than Gov. Jack Dalrymple. During his first few months as governor he doubled the Transportation budget and also championed infrastructure investment for western North Dakota totaling $1.2 billion. That unprecedented funding package includes $242 million for county and township roads statewide, which the state had never done before. Further support was provided in the 2011 special session last November. Investing in infrastructure is critical to North Dakota and under Dalrymple’s leadership the job is getting done. The Williston bypass that now diverts thou- sands of trucks around the city each day was accomplished in a matter of months.”
Godfread’s response to Tarylor concludes: “More bypasses are on the way, including around Dickinson. Passing lanes continue to be added to Highway 85 creating a more functional north-south route. We need quality roads and highways for our resi- dents and for our economy. This is something Gov. Dalrymple recognized long ago and has led on.”