City of Fargo Considers Making Changes to 17th Avenue South Corridor

things like adding turn lanes and bike lanes are possibles additions

FARGO, ND — Some changes could be coming to the 17th Avenue South corridor in Fargo.

However, not everyone living in that area agrees with those changes.

Diane Roehrich has lived on 17th Avenue South for more than 20 years.

She says she’s not happy with how things have changed over the years.

“The traffic over the years has gotten worse,” Roehrich said. “We tried to fight the underpass and failed at that. We’re getting all this traffic, all this noise, all the vehicle violations, the speeding, and it’s just getting to be too much. I’m having difficulty getting out of my driveway and I’m not getting any help from the city.”

The City of Fargo announced they could be making some possible changes to the road at a public meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ways to make the 17th Avenue South corridor safe and efficient for all commuters.

“Should we add lane capacity? Should we add a center turn lane? So that’s kind of the western side and then the eastern side is what, if anything, can we do to add bikes to the roadway or onto the sidewalks,” said Jeremy Gorden, transportation division engineer with the City of Fargo.

But some say even the bikers cause a problem.

“As far as bikers, I can go walk to my mailbox and get almost run over by a biker,” Roerich said. “So it’s not just the street traffic, it’s the bike traffic also.”

That’s why Roerich says she hopes this time the city listens to her and the others making suggestions.

“Make changes, definitely. But for the positive. Listen to us,” Roerich said. “Before when they were looking at opening up the underpass, they didn’t listen to us. And now they have this mess.”

At this time, the changes are up for discussion.
However, Gorden says there are changes he knows won’t happen.

“The biggest thing I would say is we’re not looking to widen the road from 25th Street to I-29,” Gorden said. “We’re not going to buyout properties, widen it, make a high-speed facility. We’re just trying to make some minor improvements to make major changes in the way traffic flows.”

The city expects to hold another meeting in the next few months to continue discussions.