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Main Street Improvement |
WATFORD CITY - Sally Golberg tried to find the drug store in Watford City and found herself in the bar instead.
This is explained by the fact that she was going in through the alley back door. She and everyone can shut the door to those days of entering familiar places through unfamiliar entrances.
Most of Watford City's Main Street reopened Sept. 5 after being closed all summer. The stores' front doors swing open once again.
The result of a $7 million construction project is an uptown, sophisticated look that will look even more inviting with gaily planted flower baskets, decorative trees and colorful banners hanging from tall green lampposts.
It'll be best of all in a few more weeks, when the south and final two blocks - still a messy detour - of Main are finished and reopened Oct. 4.
Golberg and her husband, Pat, aren't alone in heaving a big sigh of relief that downtown life in Watford City is getting back to normal.
No more planning shopping missions with the precision of an artillery gunner. No more trying to figure out whose back business door is whose. No more circling the block, like an airplane, waiting for one of precious few parking spots to open up in the alleys.
"We went where we could find a way to go," said Pat Golberg, who was making a few purchases at Badlands Hardware last week.
The construction was to the street like open heart surgery is to a person - major and brutal.
But to continue the thought, the street, like a renewed aortic artery, will flow much better, especially in rain and snow melt.
Watford City's engineer Lowell Cutshaw said the project included a storm sewer layer so water is diverted underground to empty into Cherry Creek.
It also buried all the electrical, widened the sidewalks, created a red brick-like median down the center and generally improved the slope.
As if one open heart surgery weren't enough for one summer, Watford City also endured a project of similar scope on four blocks of business Highway 23, which connects to Main Street heading east.
Some say a delay of a year's time between the two projects would have been easier all around.
Cutshaw likened it to ripping off a Band-Aid, "May as well get it over with."
Cutshaw said businesses worried that they'd lose major business dollars during the 65 days no one could get in through their front doors.
Generally, the word is that business was down, but not to the degree folks expected.
Laura Dodds, who's been managing Badlands Hardware for a year, said losing front door access gave her a chance to remodel the front of the store.
She thinks gas prices kept people at home and along with oil boom business and people fixing up properties around town, "We didn't see a big dip."
She loves the new look of Main Street.
"It's beautiful. My favorite thing is the new streetlights. There are a lot of suspires and there's more space than I thought there would be," she said.
Her husband, Jeff Dodds, owner of Barrett's Drug, across the street, likes the new looks, too.
"It's great. The lights are awesome," Jeff Dodds said. In all, the summer wasn't "as bad as I thought it would be. We had good (alley) access, so that helped."
Cutshaw said the project had its beginnings in a modest plan by the state Department of Transportation to overlay a new seal coat. Main also is part of the state highway system.
"It grew," Cutshaw said, into a total reconstruction similar to work on Highway 22 through Killdeer's business street three years ago.
He said Northern Improvement, the main contractor, has remained on target and the 65 days of disruption amounted to 20 days a block, not bad when viewed in that perspective.
"We're very happy," he said. "Everything went extremely smooth."
Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511, or lauren@;westriv.com
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Long X Visitor Center & Museum |
Opening in 2004 the Long X Trading Post is the central location for information on Watford City and McKenzie County's cultural, geological, historical, and geographical attractions. The facility, which is home to McKenzie County’s Visitor Center, the Pioneer Museum, and the Watford City Community Benefit Association (package store), and is be open 7 days a week.
The Long X Visitor Center/Museum features North Dakota’s largest fossil. The petrified bald cypress tree stump, weighing approximately 25,000 lbs. and measuring approximately 6 feet in diameter and 8’ tall was discovered in the Badlands south of Watford City during an archaeological dig in 2001.
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Theodore Roosevelt Expressway |
The Theodore Roosevelt Expressway (TRE) is the Northern third of the Great Plains International Trade Corridor. It runs from Rapid City, SD to Canada through the Port of Raymond in Montana. The TRE begins in Rapid City and flows through the cities of Spearfish, Belle Fourche, Bowman, Belfield, Watford City, Williston, Culbertson, Plentywood, and finally through the Port of Raymond into Canada.
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First International Bank/Outlaws Bar & Grill/Shooters Theatre and Grill |
FIRST INTERNATIONAL BANK AND TRUST EXPANSION
Watford City’s main street is dominated by an impressive structure which houses two stadium-style 100-seat movie theaters, the Outlaws Bar and Grill steakhouse with seating for 120 and a much expanded corporate headquarters of First International Bank and Trust. The building also includes a conference and convention center and gallery area for meetings and receptions. First International, which has 20 branch banks in North Dakota and Arizona, will occupy about two-thirds of the new building.
The building features natural rock on the outside and in the interior, a lot of natural wood and ceilings all out of Douglas fir.
130 N. Main St 701-842-6859
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New Golf Course Clubhouse & Lounge 701-842-2074 |
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The new clubhouse and lounge at the Watford City Golf Course opened to great reviews inthe spring of 2004! The project was a joint effort which included private fund raising efforts and community funding through the city and county
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Nature Park |
The Nature Park is comprised of 6 acres of land featuring native plantings and a 3.8 acre pond adjacent to the city-wide bike path on the southeast edge of Watford City. A wagon wheel grass plot features 11 different types of grasses and several species of trees common to this area.
The 7' to 10' deep Youth Fishing Pond features a handicapped accessible fishing pier and legal sized fish just waiting for the baited hooks of area youngsters.
Although the City is encouraging youngsters to take advantage of the fishing pond, adults are not restricted at this time.
Rainbow trout, perch, blue gill and catfish find a good home in the fishing pond which is open year round. The pond is re-stocked annually every spring by the ND Game & Fish Department. Future plans for the Nature Park are to add 2 picnic shelters with tables. - 701-842-4048 - Brent Schwan, Game Warden
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MonJores Hair Studio |
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