About 3,000 West Fargo property owners could see a special assessment on upcoming tax bills when the project to redo the Ninth Street and 13th Avenue intersection gets underway this summer.

The project will install double left-turn lanes at all four points of the intersection and one right- turn lane on 13th Avenue on the east and west ends.

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Ninth Street will also be widened to four lanes up to Meyer Boulevard, which is just south of 10th Avenue. From Meyer Boulevard north to Seventh Avenue, or the high school, an additional northbound lane will be added.

A three-fourths median will be installed on Ninth Street at the entrance to Family Fare and Ostrom's Ace Hardware complex. The median would allow left-hand turns into the complex but drivers will have to turn right, or head north on Ninth Street when leaving the store parking lots.

The $6.5 million project will get about $1.9 million in federal funding but the rest of the money, $4 million to $5 million will be paid by the city of West Fargo through sales tax money and a special assessment district that includes all properties from Sheyenne Street east to the West Fargo border of 17th Street and between Interstate 94 and Seventh Avenue South.

Assessments are expected to be about $1,000 for residential homes and $5,000 per acre for commercial property, payable over 25 years. That number could be less if the city is able to use money from the half-cent sales tax that the city passed in 2014 for infrastructure projects.

Dustin Scott, senior engineer with Moore Engineering, the city's engineering firm, said the assessments could be less if the city uses more sales tax money.

Residents can also object to the special assessments in writing. The City Commission will hear the objections at its Monday, Jan. 16, meeting and if more than 50 percent of residents in the district object the project, it could not move forward.

"It would essentially bar the project," Scott said.

But, the intersection and road badly needs reconstruction for safety and traffic reasons, Scott and Public Works Director Chris Brungardt said Monday.

Since 2012, about 55 crashes have been recorded in the intersection, making it the third-most- dangerous city intersections in the state, according to the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

One resident pointed out that the accidents were at low speeds and it is unknown if there has been a fatal accident there.

"Yes, but we don't want to come back here in two years and say there was a fatal accident there," Scott said.

The intersection is one of the city's busiest, with about 20,000 vehicles going through it each day and traffic gets very backed up at peak travel times.

"It can have between 15 and 25 vehicles waiting at the intersection at peak times," Scott said.

During construction, traffic will remain open at all times on Ninth Street but 13th Avenue would be closed. Traffic will be detoured to Sheyenne Street, 16th Street and on 17th Avenue and Seventh Avenue around 13th Avenue closures. To minimize impacts to businesses near the intersection, Brungardt said the city will install directional signs during construction.

The city will also replace aging infrastructure in the area, installing a larger storm drainage, new sewer and water lines, new traffic signals and street lighting as well as new sidewalks and bike paths.

"Everybody knows this needs to be done," Brungardt said. "The road was built in 1974, that's more than 40 years ago. Concrete roads weren't meant to last that long."

Some residents near the Sheyenne Street area also will be in the assessment district that will be created when the city tackles a $60 million reconstruction of that road starting in 2018, but the assessment district to help with West Fargo's $25 million share of that project has not yet been finalized.

Work will begin this spring and wrap up by the fall.

For more information and updates on the project, visit wwww.westfargostreets.com