Minot’s Broadway Bridge will close Sunday — and be shut down for 10 days.
We’re putting North Dakota first to find out how this impacts you during times of emergency.
Your commute might be a couple of minutes longer during the closure.
Response times for first responders are also going to have a slight delay. But, it’s something they’re prepared for.
“So anytime we hear about a road closure, we’ll talk about it here and we’ll have maps up for alternate routes so our crews know which ways to go which ways might be faster,” said Mumtaaz Allen, chief paramedic.
Those alternate routes are on side streets, which are much smaller than Broadway.
“Broadway is obviously one of the major throughways in town, so to the East, we have 3rd street that goes North and South. And then to the West, we have 6th street that we’ll probably end up using,” said Jenna Bjork, police officer for Minot.
And this creates a different kind of problem.
A little less room for emergency vehicles to get through.
So, here’s what you can to help first responders out.
“State law says that when the lights and sirens are going you need to pull over to the right as soon as possible,” said Bjork.
Turning your music down, not wearing headphones so you can hear the sirens and pulling off to the right are just a few things you can do to help their response time.
“You’ll have people who pull over to the left or stop entirely and not everyone knows the right direction,” said Allen.
Two Minot residents who told me their concerns.
“It didn’t cross my mind until you mentioned it, but now that you say that, I think it will be a problem because it will take longer for them to get to the scene, respond to it and that could possibly affect someone’s life,” said resident Samantha Fannik.
“Just know that it’s going to be a lot busier on the side roads, so when you see them coming, move aside as soon as you can and just know that it’s going to be lots of traffic elsewhere since everybody usually travels on Broadway,” said resident Caitlin Erickson.
But, we can all do our part to make sure we don’t add to the delay.
And to give you an idea of just how many people will be affected by this bridge closure, Minot officials say 30 thousand cars cross the bridge daily.
