Speed Limits For The Most Part Are Optional On This Bismarck Road

There's a stretch of highway in Bismarck where, for the most part, the speed limit is still optional. 

In fact, over the last several years, I have only witnessed just a few vehicles pulled over for speeding, and I drive it twice a day during rush hours.

This is a stretch of road where drivers really like to put the pedal to the metal.  Especially if you're driving westbound into Mandan.  It's not unusual to have motorists cruise by you going 80,90, or even faster. It can be DANGEROUS.

I like to call this road Bismarck's version of the Autobahn. If you didn't know better, you would think you were driving somewhere outside of Berlin, Germany.

The speed limit on this stretch of highway is 55, but you would never know it.

For some reason, there are usually no police, highway patrol, or sheriff departments that patrol this stretch of road. Now, I have seen a few speed traps over the last six months, but it is very rare. If they would patrol it regularly, they would make a killing in tickets.

Why is it so infrequently patrolled?  I've been trying to figure this one out in my mind for quite a while, and I do have a theory.

Because the shoulder of this road is very skinny.  A steel rail also separates the east and westbound portions of this highway.  I believe law enforcement officers think it's dangerous to pull people over.

Again, this is just a theory, and I know that the Bismarck Police Department at one time did indeed use this area as a speed trap more frequently.  They would have a squad car gun vehicles on nearby Riverwood Drive.

They would also have an unmarked vehicle on either the westbound or eastbound side of the road, and they would pull people over that way.  That was several years ago, however.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about the extreme western portion of the Bismarck Expressway.

This stretch is also known as Interstate 194.  It begins at the intersection of South Washington Street, going west.

Here's a picture of Bismarck, North Dakota's version of the Autobahn.

The highway/interstate where speed limits are made up and laws don't matter.  The way some people drive, it can be a dangerous spot.  You have been warned.