The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead shared the progress from this fall on the FM Area Diversion Project.
Warm, dry fall weather allows for construction catch-up on F-M Area Diversion project
Kris Bakkegard, director of engineering for the Metro Flood Diversion Authority, said the relatively dry and warmer-than-average weather allowed for continued progress on all parts of the project.
FARGO–A warm, dry fall has allowed those working on the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion project to catch up on time lost during a rainy spring.
Kris Bakkegard, director of engineering for the Metro Flood Diversion Authority, said the relatively dry and warmer-than-average weather allowed for continued progress on all parts of the project.
“This fall has probably been the nicest fall with consistency that we’ve had since we started construction on the project,” he said.
Once complete, the $3.2 billion Red River flood control project will divert water from the river into a diversion channel around the Fargo-Moorhead metro during extreme flooding.
The project is expected to be operational in 2027 and completed in 2028.
Diversion Channel Progress
The Metro Flood Diversion Authority oversees work on the diversion channel. Its developer, the Red River Valley Alliance, designs and builds the non-federal portion of the project. Crews from ASN Constructors, the construction arm of the Red River Valley Alliance, work on the channel 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The 30-mile diversion channel stretches from south of Horace to near Georgetown, Minnesota. Along the channel, there are bridges where roads and rail lines cross the channel and two aqueducts, which will carry the Maple and Sheyenne rivers across the channel.
As crews dig the channel, heavy rain can shut down operations for days at a time, Bakkegard said. For structures, rain stops work for a day or two, until everything dries up enough for crews to work.
“Spring was much wetter than the summer and fall were, so we were probably slow to get started on some of the channel excavation,” he said. “Fall helped that catch up.”
Dry weather has allowed crews digging the channel to be very productive, said Red River Valley Alliance CEO and Project Manager Javier Velasco. Crews moved 6 million cubic yards of earth from August to October, for an average of 2 million cubic yards per month.
In comparison, during the rainy spring months, crews were moving around 1 million cubic yards of dirt, said Pedro Martinez, ASN Constructors project manager.
“So we are basically doubling the productivity during the last three months compared to the rainy days,” he said.
So far, 28 million cubic yards of soil have been excavated from the diversion channel. ASN Constructors previously estimated they will move 45 million cubic yards of earth by the time the project is complete, which is enough dirt to fill the Fargodome 58 times.
A few of the bridges in the northern part of the project are nearing completion. Bridges for County Roads 4 and 31, County Road 22 and County Road 32 are the closest to being completed, Bakkegard said.
Last year, a mild winter allowed crews to continue excavation and work on structures throughout the season. This year, earthwork will continue and crews will work on structures as weather allows.
“Hopefully, we’ll have something similar or at least not too bad,” Martinez said.
Crews are pouring concrete for the Maple River aqueduct, which will carry water from the Maple River above the channel, Bakkegard said. At the Sheyenne River Aqueduct, crews are just starting to pour concrete.
Martinez said ASN Constructors aims to finalize their parts of the project by October 2026. He acknowledged that projects like the diversion have challenges due to uncontrollable factors like the weather, due to contract issues and in the execution of the work.
“We need to solve all those and overcome all those to make sure that we have this project finished on time,” he said.
Southern Embankment Progress
Warm and dry conditions this fall allowed contractors to make up ground on the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ portions of the project, said resident engineer Tony Feilzer.
“Our spring was very wet, and we didn’t make the progress then that we hoped to make, but we made way more progress in October than we ever anticipated would be possible,” he said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for work on the southern embankment and three gated control structures. The 22-mile earth wall will hold water south of Fargo and Moorhead during floods. The three control structures will control the flow of water into the diversion channel, the Red River and the Wild Rice River.
Through the fall, progress has been made on the largest of the three structures, the Red River structure. That component is 67% complete, said resident engineer Capt. Kyle Volk.
So far, 42,000 cubic yards of concrete have been poured for the structure. Two of three large rotating gates are being installed. The pieces of a third gate will arrive soon with plans to construct the gate this winter.
Crews will weld pieces of the gate together in a heated enclosure, allowing for assembly to continue even in sub-zero temperatures.
The other two structures — the Wild Rice River structure and the diversion inlet structure — are both nearly complete. The mechanical gears needed to finish the structures are being fabricated this fall into the winter and are expected to be delivered by late winter or early spring, Volk said. However, the completion of the inlet structure was celebrated in October 2023.
Crews also continued to build the earthen embankment through the fall. Contractors started working on the first section in Minnesota, which stretches from the Red River structure south toward the Clay-Wilkin county line.
Contractors are continuing to work on the embankment before it gets shut down for the winter, which Volk anticipates will be in the next week.
“I think they’re fully aware they’re on borrowed time, and they’re trying to capitalize on the good weather that we do have,” he said.
By Ingrid Harbo
Published on November 12, 2024
