The busiest intersection in Minot will soon have new traffic signals.

Two of the four traffic signal poles at the intersection of Burdick/Broadway were damaged in separate vehicle accidents in the past four months. After the accidents, portable traffic signals were placed at the intersection, which was followed by crews repurposing old traffic signals as a long-term temporary solution.

“We had plans to replace the first one that was broken in the northeast corner, then shortly after that the one in the southeast corner was hit and damaged,” Traffic Engineer Stephen Joersz said. “We decided to re-evaluate our path forward and replace all of the signals, poles, and mast arms at the same time so everything is up-to-date.”

The existing poles were installed in 1989; new mast arms were installed in 2012.

“That means we’ve got 11-year-old mast arms with 34-year-old poles,” Joersz said. “It’s time to update this intersection. The traffic cabinet at Burdick/Broadway has already been replaced, so we’ve got new brains and we’ve got new eyes with the new cameras. Now we need to get a new body with new signal poles and mast arms.”

Joersz said engineers are working on the design and the project will hopefully go out for bids in March, with a contract potentially awarded in April. It remains unclear if the project will be completed in 2023, though.

“We’re a little uncertain on construction timelines because of the lead time to get new poles. The waiting time is months, not weeks, so that might not allow us to do this project this year,” Joersz said.