Faces of the Diversion: Steve Wahler

Steve Wahler: [00:00:14] Hi, my name is Steve Wahler. I’m the transportation manager with ASN Constructors. I was in the consultant engineering world before I came here. I grew up near Fargo, I’m a local, went to school in NDSU and graduated in December of 2009. For the next 13 years or so I was in consultant administration.

[00:00:38] This opportunity came up in 2022. I knew some individuals that were working here… this position came available and it seemed like a good fit, so I kind of just made the jump into the construction side of things and it’s been a good change of pace.

[00:00:54] My scope of work involves all the roadway work basically up to the bridges. All around this project we have 19 bridge crossings that meet the channel, so all the roadway work coming up to those—the aggregate, the asphalt, the earthwork, concrete works that tie into the bridges—is under my scope of work.

[00:01:11] All around the project we have these dead-end terminations where the local township roads meet the channel. We build approaches on both sides for farm access. We have other longer farm parcel connections that we build all around the project so farmers maintain access after we cut off the roadways. Also under my scope of work is the traffic control for the entire project along with road maintenance.

[00:01:35] The biggest challenges I would say… the administration side of things, which is something that a lot of people don’t see, but just the effort it goes into tracking all the materials and the work on site to meet all the specifications and requirements with our contract with the Diversion Authority. That side of it is very complex and it takes a lot of effort.

[00:01:58] And also when we come to the tie-in work of the bridges, we’re noticing it is challenging because we have potentially three or four different work groups working on top of each other tying in the bridge, the roadways, the levee, the maintenance roads. It’s complex, it takes a lot of coordination between the departments and the subcontractors to make sure everything gets done perfectly so we can turn it over.

[00:02:23] The best part is just the project in general, knowing what it’s going to do for the whole area once it’s completed. I also do like the aspect of solving problems, which there’s probably 10 a day that you have to solve most of the time. That’s probably the thing I get most enjoyment out of the job.

[00:02:45] Working on a project of this importance to the community… it’s actually kind of wild being on the job and traveling it, the size and scale of it is massive. I grew up and went to college here, so I know the impacts that some of the flood seasons had on the community. I was part of the sandbagging efforts, so I know the issues that the flooding seasons can cause around here. Being a part of this project where we know once it’s completed that we should never have to hopefully fight those floods again, I take a lot of pride in that.