VIDEO: Metro Flood Diversion Authority Releases 2024-End Updates
In 2024, significant progress was made on the $3.2 billion Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion flood protection project. The Metro Flood Diversion Authority highlighted achievements, including completion of infrastructure components by partners like ASN Constructors and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Mon December 30, 2024 - Midwest Edition #1 Metro Flood Diversion Authority
Sixty-eight individual components of the $3.2 billion Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion were worked on in 2024. That's just one highlight of the year that saw more visible construction progress than ever before on major flood protection infrastructure for the Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., metro area.
The Metro Flood Diversion Authority (MFDA) and some of its key partners looked back on what was accomplished in 2024 in a new video,
Photo courtesy of Metro Flood Diversion Authority
"It's been an honor and privilege to lead the MFDA Board again this year," said Mayor Shelly Carlson, 2024 MFDA board chairwoman, who also chaired the Board in 2021. "It's absolutely incredible to see all the progress that's been made, and it's exciting to witness history in the making as we move closer each day to permanent, rather than temporary, flood-control measures."
The public-private partnership developer on the project, the Red River Valley Alliance, saw its design and construction arm, ASN Constructors, complete significant construction. The group excavated roughly 28 million cu. yds. of material, which would be enough to re-create the Great Pyramid of Giza about nine times.
ASN also drove 24 mi. of piling and placed more than 23,000 cu. yds. of concrete to support structures along the 30-mi. stormwater diversion channel. Completing all that work involved logging more than 316,000 machinery hours and collecting more than 80 terabytes of drone survey data. For context, that would be equivalent to making a music playlist that is more than 153 years long.
Another key partner in building permanent, reliable flood protection is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District. Their contractors placed roughly 42,000 cu. yds. of concrete at the Red River Structure last year. While RRS, the largest of the three structures that will control flow into the channel, is at 70 percent completion, the amount of concrete used already exceeds that of the other two structures — the Wild Rice River Structure and Diversion Inlet Structure — combined. They also drove 16 mi. of piling to anchor the structure, with another 5 mi. needing to be driven in 2025. Later next summer, the Red River of the North will be rerouted to flow through the structure, which is a highly anticipated milestone for the project.
Corps contractors also worked on reaches of the southern embankment and the Oxbow-Hickson-Bakke Levee. About 850,000 cu. yds. were excavated on these earthen embankments in 2024.
Additionally, a Corps contractor placed 800 boulders to form a rock rapids in place of the outdated Drayton Dam north of the metro area in Drayton, N.D. This allows for uninterrupted fish passage along the entire length of the Red River of the North within the United States.
The cities of Fargo and Moorhead as well as Cass County, N.D., and Clay County, Minn., have been important partners in ensuring future flood protection, as well. Much of the city work has been completed, but 2024 still saw construction on six stormwater lift stations.
"It's been great watching the progress made [in 2024] by everyone from heavy equipment operators to engineers," said Cass County Commissioner Tony Grindberg, MFDA board 2024 vice-chairman. "I'm proud to have taken the lead on crafting legislation to fund the project as a state senator in 2013. Now, just over a decade later, things have come full circle for me. I'm looking forward to leading the MFDA Board in 2025, when we'll be focused on pushing some components to the finish line and preparing for operations and maintenance on completed components."
The FM Area Diversion project is the first P3 ever done in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and it's the first P3 water management project ever done in North America. It's also the first green finance initiative in the United States specifically designed for climate change adaptation.
About the Metro Flood Diversion Authority
The MFDA is a permanent North Dakota political subdivision that is cooperatively implementing the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion comprehensive project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The MFDA works in partnership with the Red River Valley Alliance in a public-private partnership as well as the city of Fargo, city of Moorhead, Cass County, Clay County and the Cass County Joint Water Resource District.
