Trucks Taking Toll On North Dakota Roads - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Trucks Taking Toll On North Dakota Roads

To some the oil boom has deteriorated communities, housing and now the roads.

The state of North Dakota has some work to do, primarily in the Western part of the state.

Black Gold, also known as oil is doing a lot for North Dakota.

It's helping produce an economic explosion, jobs and plenty notoriety around the country.

But as truck after truck drive down the asphalt. Each one takes a toll on the gray pavement.

"Out west the roadways have been impacted by the large amount of truck traffic and the heavy loads they are carrying and we're just seeing the roadways deteriorate a lot quicker out west than we have in previous years."

Take Highway Two for example, it was built to last 20 years, but with oil traffic it's ready for a renovation, 12 years early.

"we're probably looking at 14 times the amount traffic that the roadway was originally designed for."

This has prompted the state to invest a large chunk of money into rebuilding roads.

"We're going to have a 700 million dollar program across the state. Of that about 410 is going to be going to the western part of the state."

The D-O-T says they are working on a way to improve the pavement product to give it a longer life span and hold up to the big rigs.

"We're trying to incorporate some of the cement into the base. We're also trying to incorporate some lime into some of the sub grades so we're trying to improve the techniques as we move forward to have a better product in the end."

The roads are in desperate need of this repair to keep traffic moving today and into the future.

The eastern half of the state will receive 390 million dollars to help repair roads. Many were damaged by flooding last year.