These oil fields are here to stay (until they run out that is). Oil will stay high enough to keep these wells going, while prices may drop some, this field will remain profitable. I highly doubt we ever see prices go below 35 dollars in the next 3 or 4 decades. That of course is barring some miracle product that do what oil does, or a complete economic collapse and the failure of the USA.

Yes, I just checked the NDDOT website, there appears to be half, if not more, of US2 that is "work zone", which usually indicates single lane traffic each direction, you may have to stop and wait sometimes.  But compare the mileage of work zone on ND5 to US2.  Add all the oilfield traffic (yes, Halliburton, and Schlumberger, rig moves, and don't forget the scoria haulers and the water and fuel tank haulers which are on the go on weekends, too) and you have yourself an industrial park on a 70 mph conveyer belt.

It's a bad place for bicycle tours right now.

I still would advise that at least for the next 2 or 3 years they stay up on ND5, and avoid Minot completely.  That should cut down on fatalities. And paved county roads here in the NW portion of the state have seen heavy truck traffic increases since the current boom started around here.  I've talked with plenty of truck drivers that go everywhere in the oil patch, and they have predicted that sooner or later something like this was coming, but what can a truck driver do about it, other than do his best to avoid tragedy?  U.S. 2 between Williston and Minot currently has occasional convoys that may involve as many as 20 semi's in a row, usually staying in the right hand lane.  That leaves the left lane for passing.  But as has been noted previously, if you are bicycling on a stretch which lacks enough shoulder to ride on, you are kind of in a bind. If a convoy comes up behind a string of bicyclers, they sometimes must slow down to a crawl until the left lane is clear enough for them to get around the bike riders. Anything that impedes the smooth flow of traffic is a potential cause of an accident. 

I wonder if organizers of these rides are aware of the current level of  vehicular activity here right now.

• I ride on the SHOULDER of the road.

•  If there is no shoulder, I ride on or within 3 inches of the white line.


•  I wear a mirror so I can see cars coming towards me at 5 to 10 mph above the speed limit while the driver is talking on the cell phone. (so I can take the ditch if necessary)
  


• I wear high-vis green, safety orange, or something equally bright so I will be noticed.  I do not wear camouflage.

"and PS we should have taken over Cuba decades ago and made it into a resort"

I thought we didn't do things like that.  We don't take people's country away from them do we?

I, too, heard about the tragic accident.  It was reported that there are no shoulders on this road.  If THAT is true, my gosh, it isn't legal to pull over onto the side of a road with no shoulder.  I can't imagine that it is wise to be riding a bike.  And I agree, the organizers of this group are morally responsible if not legally responsible for safety of their bikers.  I don't know where they are headquartered, any maybe they know nothing about rural roads, but neither ignorance nor lack of foresight  can excuse what happened.

AND PS WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN OVER CUBA DECADES AGO AND MADE IT INTO A RESORT. 

That also ranks up there as one of the more asinine comments to be posted here.

No,  I sort of agree with Rugby today.    America is HELPING that nation,  that nation should pay for what they are capable of paying for without harming their own economy... Money doesn't grow on trees, and America is broke..

so if a country wants our help, they should be willing to give and to die to get it done.

AND PS WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN OVER CUBA DECADES AGO AND MADE IT INTO A RESORT.