By now, Burleigh County had expected to create a new intersection on Bismarck Expressway connecting it directly to Yegen Road and disconnecting it from Apple Creek Road using $300,000 in safety money from the Department of Transportation.

But the Northern Plains Commerce Centre development forced the county engineer to scrap his original plans and come up with something that will better match NPCC's needs, missing the April 1 bid letting. Currently, Apple Creek Road intersects with Expressway just east of an overpass that restricts vehicle sight lines. Apple Creek Road then intersects with Yegen near the Farmers Livestock Exchange.

Burleigh's original plan, according to engineer Jon Mill, was to move the intersection farther east and create a new half-mile, 40-foot graded section of asphalt connecting directly with Yegen. The Apple Creek Road would have remained open, but severed before reaching Expressway.

"The whole thing got severely confused by the commerce center," Mill said. "The type of road we were putting in was determined to be wrong for commerce center traffic. What we had planned was something similar to Centennial, a nice, wide two-lane asphalt section with shoulders."

NPCC consultant Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson Inc. wants Yegen Road to be three lanes, about 60 feet wide, according to KLJ engineer Brian Eiseman. It will be a concrete section, eight to 11 inches thick, with a center turn lane, similar to Bismarck's south 26th Street.

What Mill did was come up with a plan for the wider version that NPCC needs. It calls for the new half-mile to be graveled, leaving NPCC responsible for the concrete paving. The county was able to get an extension on the DOT's safety grant, and Mill says he plans to talk to commissioners at their first meeting in August about bid letting. He expects to open bids by mid-August.

"It's a short section and shouldn't take long to complete," Mill says. "The contractor who gets the bid could probably start work a week after August bid opening."

Until concrete for the new section is poured, it likely will be kept closed, and the Apple Creek intersection will continue to serve the local traffic.

Eiseman says the NPCC plans are complete and he doesn't expect the road will be closed long. Yegen Road will be reconstructed from Expressway to the Morrison Avenue extension, whichwhich will run east-west and will intersect with Northern Plains Drive, also in the planning stages.

Groundbreaking for NPCC is being planned for early August.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@bismarcktribune.com.)