Northern Tier Route, Section 3 & 4, 2011

[alpineMc]

There is severe flooding in and around the town of Minot North Dakota. See the ND DOT site for the latest road closures: http://www.dot.nd.gov/dotnet2/view/highwayinfo.aspx

[ggwbikemt]

In Minot, most of the south side businesses including those on the US 2/52 bypass are high ground so they will remain open. Portions of the northern tier route inside the city of Minot itself are in the flood evacuation zone including the spot where section 3 and section 4 meet. Both US 2 and US 52 east of Minot are both closed due to flooding. I would ask cyclists to look at this map link below when planning an alternate route.  US 83 has decent paved shoulders. US 52 has decent paved shoulders west of Highway 15 and narrow shoulder rumble strips from ND Highway 15 to US 281. ND 23 west of US 83 has narrow shoulder rumble strips and heavy truck traffic. I don't remember the amount of shoulder paving on ND 23 east of US 83 at the moment. As the US 2 and 52 detour route expect heavy traffic.


 http://www.dot.nd.gov/travel-info/downloads/Flood-RegionalRoadClosures-Souris-Mouse.pdf

[JHamelman]

We recently received this detour information for getting around Minot as they deal with flooding:

We did a drive-around so we could give you a current report.

US 2 is blocked at 52. Officially 52 is also closed, but it is open
via a 9" deep ford just west of Velva. Continue on 52 to Anamoose,
north on County rd. 11 nine miles to junction county rd 19, then east
14 miles to junction of 3 (goes north to Rugby). This puts you back on
route. All the roads are good (11 no shoulders), but resources are
scarce ... only at Velva & Anoose. I think you can camp both 'towns'

Total detour distance 82 miles vs 90 on the route. Would make good
alternate to get off 2, but for no services for so many miles.

Also, North Dakota DOT has a pdf of alternate routes available from their homepage as of today (7.6.11):

http://www.dot.nd.gov/

.Jennifer.

[JHamelman]

The flooding continues to impact the city of Minot. We've just heard that all campgrounds in the area are still closed. If you plan to overnight there, it may be a good idea to call ahead for reservations at a hotel.

.Jennifer.

[NCMJ]

My son camped at campgrounds in Velva (22 miles east of Minot) 8/1 and Stanley (55 west of Minot) 8/2.   He went through Minot but no information on campgrounds in that town.   Hotel/motel rooms are hard to come by.   Calling ahead is definitely a good idea.  There are many migrant/temporary workers in the area for oil projects and flood cleanup projects so many motels and campgrounds are at high occupancy.