Fargo City Commissioners, Engineers Discuss Future of Main Avenue

The meeting discussed possible design alternatives and how businesses could prosper as a result

FARGO, N.D. — Thousands of cars roll down Main Avenue to get to downtown Fargo every day, but city engineers say that the time has come for the main road to get a new look.

“It really comes down to four different road alternatives. You could do a three lane, you could do a four lane, you could do a five lane, or you could do a hybrid option,” said Jeremy Gorden, the Transportation Division Engineer for the City of Fargo.

That hybrid option would have Main Avenue start as a five lane road towards University Drive, then gradually shrink to four lanes and then three lanes eastbound.

The city engineers have worked with the SRF Consulting Group to map out and create simulations for how these design alternatives could look.

“Fortunately we’ve had a lot of involvement from business owners along both sides of Main Avenue so I think they’re very engaged and I think the information is there to ask the city commission to go a certain direction or another,” said Rick Lane, the Principal Engineer for SRF Consulting Group.

An important part of some of the designs was the need for on–street parking, and several residents say that this is important for the encouragement of economic development.

“Every time we build a new road, this project could be $13 million, we need to consider the economic implications,” said Joe Burgum, the President of the Hawthorne Neighborhood Association.

Burgum said that his neighbors should make their voices heard at next week’s Public Input meeting.

“For a lot of these roadway projects, people don’t know they are happening until there’s a shovel in the ground, and at the end of the day, this is our dollars and as a community they are building a road, and we want to make sure that road serves the community and the neighborhood,” said Burgum.

Even though there are some hurdles to jump, engineers say they are hopeful construction on Main Avenue begins next year.

The Public Input Meeting will take place on May 8 at Fargo City Hall at 4pm.

The meeting will feature the same designs and simulations presented to the city commission.