Northern Tier route question - Fergus Falls to Fargo

[jwrushman]

Riding Green Bay WI to Anacortes starting on June 1.

I had my route planned using the ACA Northern Tier Section 5 map from 2014.  From Fergus Falls, the route goes north toward Cormorant and then west on Route 10 to Sabin (outside of Fargo).

The 2108 edition of this map leaves Fergus Falls on Routes 88 and 52, kind of "paralleling" Highway 94.  This shortens the ride to Fargo by about 24 miles, but looking at the maps, I'm thinking the area around Comorant MN might be more picturesque. 

Would someone familiar with this area care to comment?  Was a safety concern the reason for the route change?''

"Wrong-way" Rushman

[John Nettles]

North Dakota has had a lot of oil drilling and fracking going on the past few years.  This has caused an immense increase in larger oil-field trucks on the smaller roads.  Thus, while not ideal, it was re-routed for safety. But yes, I too feel it is not as scenic.  It is all a give-and-take. 

Tailwinds, John

[jwrushman]

Thanks for the prompt reply!

"Wrong-way" Rushman

[John Nettles]

While I have not ridden the "Cormont" section, I have ridden in the overall area a couple of times in the past and yes, MN is a bit more picturesque than SD.  Also, I do not know why this area was re-routed as it is away from a lot of the fracking, I "think".

Perhaps ACA will chime in and clarify.  Best, John

[JHamelman]

Yes, Northern Tier Sections 3 and 4 were completely rerouted in 2012 due to the fracking boom in Williston, ND. The roads were not built to take the excessive truck traffic and provide a safe shoulder to bike in. Check out this blog post for how it all went down:

https://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/blog/big-route-changes-in-north-dakota/

Best,
Jennifer

[jwrushman]

Jennifer,

The link you provided describes changes to the Northern Tier west of Fargo.  I was curious about the change east of Fargo, in Minnesota, between Fergus Falls and Sabin MN.  This happened between the 2014 and 2018 versions of Northern Tier, Section 5 map.

"Wrong-way" Rushman

[JHamelman]

Ack, my bad. Sorry.

From my recollection, that route change came as a suggestion from a local cyclist passing through the office. It seemed like a reasonable one to us, especially since I would guess many folks often opt to go for a more direct route and were skipping our routing anyway. There is no significant or safety based reason for one routing over the other. Rider's choice.

Jennifer