Location
Fargo, North Dakota, and Moorhead, Minnesota, are on the west and east banks, respectively, of the Red River of the North and approximately 150 miles south of the Canada-U.S. border. The Wild Rice, Sheyenne, Maple and Rush rivers in North Dakota and the Buffalo River in Minnesota also cross the project area.
Background
The Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area is a major health, education, cultural and commercial center. The area is prone to flooding. The Red River of the North has exceeded the National Weather Service flood stage of 18 feet in 60 of the past 122 years (1902 through 2024), with seven of the top 10 floods occurring in the last 30 years. A 500-year event would flood nearly the entire city of Fargo, a large portion of the city of Moorhead, and several smaller communities in the area. Flooding occurs from not only river levee breaching but also large rainfall events that overwhelm storm drainage systems. Average annual flood damages are estimated at approximately $238 million. Although emergency flood fights have been very successful, the area has a significant risk of catastrophic flooding.
Status
The project is a 30-mile, 20,000-cubic foot per second diversion channel in North Dakota with upstream staging. A feasibility study was initiated in 2008 and completed in 2011. A Record of Decision was signed April 3, 2012. The Metro Flood Diversion Authority, the city of Fargo, North Dakota, and the city of Moorhead, Minnesota, are the nonfederal sponsors. The Project Partnership Agreement, executed on July 11, 2016, and amended March 2019, limits the federal cost share to $750 million plus inflation. The total project cost is currently estimated to be $2,891,771,000.
This is the first U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project to use a Public Private Partnership (P3). Nonfederal construction of the diversion channel using a P3 began in August 2022. USACE is designing and constructing the 22-mile Southern Embankment and three large, gated control structures. The first federal contract was awarded on Dec. 6, 2016, for the Diversion Inlet Structure; construction began in spring 2017. Construction of the Wild Rice River Structure; the I-29 Grade Raise; the Red River Structure; the Drayton Dam Fish Passage Mitigation Project; Southern Embankment Reaches SE-1B, -2A, -2B, -3, -4, and -5; and the Drain 27 Native Plantings contracts are also ongoing. Construction of the Southern Embankment Reach SE-1 and the Drain 27 Wetland Restoration Project was completed in 2022. USACE is also working on documentation required to operate the project, including the Water Control and Operations and Maintenance Manuals.
The project received $437,000,000 via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 2022 (Public Law 117-58), to complete and fiscally close out the project
Authority
This project is authorized under the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014; this project received start/construction funding in the fiscal year 2016 work plan.
Funding
Federal funding received fiscal years 2016 to 2024 $750,049,996