ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, awarded a $46,040,475.00 contract
Dec. 6, to Ames Construction, Inc., of Burnsville, Minnesota, to complete the diversion inlet control structure portion of the Fargo, North Dakota/Moorhead, Minnesota, Metropolitan Area Flood Risk Management Project.
The contract for the inlet control structure is the first construction contract to be awarded by the federal government for the Fargo-Moorhead Project. The contract includes construction of a concrete control structure with three gates that will regulate flows into the diversion channel and be located southeast of Horace, North Dakota. Permits for construction of this feature were issued by the state of North Dakota.
“This is a very important milestone for the project,” said Col. Sam Calkins, St. Paul District commander. “It marks the start of federal construction and the first 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 12-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 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.
A ground breaking ceremony is being planned for spring of 2017.
The nearly 600 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2015 $100 million budget, nearly 1,600 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $155 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.
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