The Bismarck-Mandan Metropolitan Planning Organization's technical advisory committee will suggest to its policy board today a study examining routes for a northern beltway and bridge and rule out the middle option. The MPO's meeting is at 3:30 p.m. in the Tom Baker room of the City-County building.

A 2000 long-range transportation plan suggested a need to establish a northern corridor that would set aside land for a future beltway and bridge - at least 25 years into the future. The engineering firm Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson began studying possible routes for the corridor last year. They presented three alternatives to the public last month and have about two-thirds of the study left to complete.

Project engineer Bob Shannon told the technical team that the middle option's cons outweigh the pros. The route would bisect Burnt Creek Estates in north Bismarck, affecting numerous homes. Cultural resources on the west side of the river limit a bridge's entrance to Morton County, and removing the resources would be costly. The middle route is near Montana-Dakota Utilities' Heskett power plant and would force two fly ash disposal sites to be removed at $1 million to $2 million each, Shannon said. Also, an underpass would have to be built for Heskett's off-road mine trucks, on the MPO's bill. Finally, he recommended abandoning the route because it would require realigning Rockhaven Creek.

Instead, the study will focus on the last northern and southernmost routes. While the northern route would condemn at least three homes - two in Burleigh and one in Morton counties - the southern route would avoid tearing down any houses.

As a result of the study, the Save Our Valley Committee was formed to voice concerns of residents near the corridor. Two members, Jackie Zachmeier and Bill Patrie, would lose their homes with the north route.

Save Our Valley spokesperson Warren Emmer said that although the group feels the study and corridor are entirely unnecessary, he's glad to see efforts made to lessen impacts on the corridor. It's good for residents who would have been the middle option if it is dropped from consideration.

"From our vantage point it was shocking our city fathers would be willing to put new homes, not even built yet, under a bulldozer," he said.

Shannon said refining the routes to minimize impact is part of the "evolution of the study." While the completed study will include original placement concepts, the end result will not be identical to the first proposals. More polishing to the routes is expected to optimize the benefits of a beltway.

Although the beltway was first intended to handle traffic from 40 to 75 mph, the North Dakota Department of Transportation asked the advisory committee to adopt a 55 mph speed limit for the beltway. The MPO will consider that today, as well. By limiting speeds to 55, Shannon said, the study won't be confined to such strict grades for curves and hills. In addition, a slower road will be cheaper to construct.

"Moving (traffic) slowly is better than not moving it at all," said Burleigh County Engineer Jon Mill.

Shannon also presented a summary of input received from the public over the last month and a half. Most statements were similar to those of Save Our Valley's, contending the bridge is unnecessary. The MPO agrees with suggestions to improve north-south roads to existing bridges, and supports a west side transportation study that the Bismarck City Commission will hear tonight. The study examined solutions to problems in moving north to south in the city.

The technical advisory committee took issue with other arguments, though. They'll ask the MPO to adopt a position paper at today's meeting outlining responses that disagree that a northern bridge will never be needed.

A KLJ survey, filled out by public hearing attendees, showed that the public is most concerned about the corridor's social impacts, such as right-of-way acquisition, safety, noise, appearance and natural resources. Mobility and price were deemed not as important.

After the MPO's decisions on the technical advisory recommendations today, KLJ will return to work on refining the alignments. They'll return this spring with a draft of the study and present it to city and county commissions in June or July.

(Reach reporter Angie Buckley at 250-8255 or angiebuckley@ndonline.com)