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Corps awards its second contract for Fargo-Moorhead diversion project

Published Nov. 28, 2019

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, awarded a $59,448,550.00 contract to Ames Construction, Inc. of Burnsville, Minnesota, to complete the Wild Rice River structure portion of the Fargo, North Dakota/Moorhead, Minnesota, Metropolitan Area Flood Risk Management Project, late Nov. 27, 2019.

The contract for the Wild Rice River structure is the second construction contract to be awarded by the federal government for the Fargo-Moorhead diversion project. The contract includes construction of a concrete control structure with two gates that will regulate Wild Rice River flows into the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area and is located approximately 7 miles south of Fargo-Moorhead (or approximately 1 mile south of St. Benedict, North Dakota). Funding for this work was included in the Corps of Engineers Fiscal Year 2019 Work Plan.

“This is a very important milestone for the project,” said Col. Karl Jansen, St. Paul District commander. “It marks the continuation of federal construction and another major step towards permanent flood risk management for the Fargo-Moorhead area.”

This congressionally authorized project is a 30-mile long diversion channel in North Dakota with upstream staging. The plan includes a 21-mile long southern embankment, 19 highway bridges, four railroad bridges, three gated control structures and two aqueduct structures.

The Corps is working in partnership on this project with the cities of Fargo and Moorhead and the Metro Flood Diversion Authority. This project provides flood risk reduction for more than 230,000 people and 70 square miles of infrastructure in the communities of Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargo, Horace and Harwood.

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Release no. 19-082