FARGO – Four different plans for the reconstruction of Main Avenue were presented to the Fargo City Commission on Tuesday, May 1, including a roundabout at the intersection with Second Street North.

Each plan differs in the number of eastbound and westbound lanes, available parking spots and sidewalk space.

SRF Consulting has been working with the North Dakota Department of Transportation and the city to develop the project. Engineer Richard Lane said additional options were recently added based on feedback collected at a public input meeting last year.

Vehicle traffic and congestion, pedestrian walkability and economic benefits, like new business or apartment complexes that could come from the reconstruction, were taken into consideration when crafting the new plans, Lane said.

The scope of the Main Avenue project stretches from Second Street North, by the Red River, to University Drive. Originally slated to start construction this summer, the project now has a tentative start date sometime in 2019.

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Lane said a roundabout at Second Street North and Main Avenue would improve safety and control traffic better than a regular stop-light intersection. Although not a fixture in any one plan, the roundabout can be easily added to any of them, he said.

One of the plans is a three-lane reconstruction of Main Avenue, with one eastbound lane, one westbound lane, and one two-way left-turn lane.

Parking on both sides of the avenue is available with this plan, with over 180 parking spots, the most of any of the plans.

But this plan does have the highest levels of congestion, especially after 9th Street North, Lane said.

A slight variation of this plan excludes the two-way left-turn lane for a median to increase aesthetics as well as to serve as traffic control, he said.

The “two-plus-one” lane idea has two eastbound lanes and one westbound, with a two-way left-turn lane. Unlike the three-lane plan, this version has parking available only on one side.

Of all the plans, the two-plus-one plan proves to be most efficient for peak hour evening traffic. According to the presentation, it would take approximately four minutes to go from Second Street North to University Drive or vice versa.

There were two five-lane plans presented on Tuesday. One is turning Main Avenue into five lanes from Second Street North to University Drive. The plan includes up to 162 parking spaces.

The other plan, called the “hybrid” plan, begins as a three-lane road from Second Street North to Ninth Street before changing to four lanes between Ninth Street North and 11th Street North. It becomes five lanes between 11th Street North and University Drive to ease rush hour traffic, Lane said at the presentation.

All of the plans presented will have more sidewalk space than currently available on Main Avenue, both Lane and Cindy Gray, one of the project leaders with SRF, said.

According to Transportation Engineer Jeremy Groden, none of the plans currently include bike lanes.

The hybrid and two-plus-one options prove most efficient for vehicles during traffic, Lane said, and the project also plans implementing railroad traffic technology to signal drivers of train times.

All four plans cost around $13 million, with the five-lane option being the cheapest at around $12.62 million.

Gray said the project still needs to go through an environmental review and public input before final decisions can be made, which will be presented to the city for approval sometime in June.

A public input meeting on the Main Avenue reconstruction project will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 8, in City Commission chambers at City Hall, allowing residents and business owners to ask questions regarding the new plans.