FM Area Diversion June Construction Update

Tom Folks (Senior Construction Manager): [00:00:01] Hi, I’m Tom Folks, the senior construction manager for the Metro Flood Diversion Authority with this month’s construction update.

[00:00:11] The FM area diversion would not be able to operate were it not for partnership amongst the cities of Fargo and Moorhead and the counties of Cass and Clay. Much of the work has been done to allow up to 37 feet of water to flow safely through town before the diversion operates, but additional work is still needed.

[00:00:43] In North Moorhead, between 43rd Avenue and Wall Street Avenue, we see phase two of the flood mitigation project nearing completion. Pre-cast concrete box culvert segments now form the intake and discharge ends of a new gate well structure where stormwater runoff will discharge to the Red River under normal flow conditions. When the river crests, the gate well structure will be closed to contain the river safely within its banks and behind the in-town levee system, while interior drainage is maintained via the nearby stormwater pond and lift station, also constructed as part of the North Moorhead Flood Mitigation Project.

[00:01:35] North of Fargo, ASN Constructors finished six spans with nine girders each on the BNSF Hillsboro crossing this month. Of the channel’s three railroad crossings, this marks the first with bridge girders installed.

[00:02:02] Southwest of there at the I-94 crossing, crews continued work on the pair of bridges spanning the diversion channel this month. More than 1,000 cubic yards of concrete was placed at both the eastbound and westbound bridge decks.

[00:02:30] Lots of concrete work is also happening at the Sheyenne River Aqueduct, where as a reminder, our progress footage is close up due to nesting eagles nearby. In recent weeks, ASN Constructors has placed concrete for multiple flume piers, wing wall footings, and wall segments. Crews are also beginning to assemble shoring towers and decking forming portions of the flume’s slab.

[00:03:07] Near the Maple River Aqueduct and County Road 20, work is taking place in reach 6 of the stormwater diversion channel, where to date nearly 80% of the necessary 45 million cubic yards of material has now been excavated. As channel excavation nears completion, the work will become increasingly focused on remaining channel segments surrounding the structures such as the aqueducts and crossings where functional drainage will eventually pass below or through the completed structures.

[00:03:48] This month we see the work on the Authority administration building for the first time as ASN Constructors begins placing concrete foundations. The building will be the future home for the Metro Flood Diversion Authority staff and is positioned along the southern embankment to provide line of sight and direct access for operations and maintenance.

[00:04:22] The 22-mile southern embankment is being constructed in segments by US Army Corps of Engineers contractors. At the SC2B reach, box culverts were installed and are getting backfilled where 45th Street will cross over the embankment north of County Road 16. Work has resumed excavating the borrow ditch and constructing the full-height embankment.

[00:04:56] Nearby at the Red River Structure, work has surpassed 80% completion. With all three gates in position, the contractor is now installing the gate lifting cables and machinery. Concrete work remains focused on the flood walls and piers both east and west of the structure as well as the east half of the structure’s upstream approach apron.

[00:05:22] We can see more and more portions of the primary structure are receiving final coats of paint this month as the project prepares to permanently divert the Red River through the structure in the coming weeks. For more updates on the project and the people making it happen, subscribe to the Diversion Current.