November 21, 2025
FM Area Diversion November Construction Update
FARGO, ND (November 21, 2025) – Some work on the FM Area Diversion project is wrapping up for the season, but other sites will continue 24/7 through the winter. Reaches of the 22-mile southern embankment are among the components winding down. Much of the necessary 9.4 million cubic yards of material that needs to be excavated for the embankment has been moved. For perspective, that’s enough to reconstruct the Great Pyramid of Giza three more times.
The progress on the southern embankment, as well as other diversion components, can be seen at https://youtu.be/vIHrvxXL5Bg and summarized below.
Crossings: More of the 19 road and railroad crossings are opening to traffic. With trains shifted to the permanent alignment at the BNSF Hillsboro crossing last month, the temporary shoofly track is now removed, making way for remaining earthwork and paving at the County Road 81 crossing. That’s yet another bridge anticipated to open to traffic in the coming weeks. Nearby, crews completed asphalt shoulder paving this month along the southbound driving lane of I-29, which will soon open to traffic, as well. At the BNSF Prosper crossing, crews completed track and ballast installation and opened the bridge to train traffic on November 12.
Maple River Aqueduct: ASN Constructors is installing heating elements and cover plating for the aqueduct’s low-flow channel heating system, which will promote fish passage. Assembly of the aqueduct’s vertical lift gate is underway, as well. Individual sections of the gate are now being installed and welded at the flume’s west end. At the spillway, ASN Constructors continues forming and placing the concrete-faced sheet pile walls, and concrete work has commenced on the spillway’s base section, as well. Excavation of the downstream engineered channel is also nearing completion.
Southern Embankment: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors continued with excavation and embankment construction for all unfinished reaches. Reach SE-1B, which is 55% completed, is near the Diversion Inlet Structure. The contractor completed portions of the levee embankment and all permanent road alignments. Additionally, they installed aggregate base and completed asphalt paving to allow the intersection of County Roads 16 and 17 to open to traffic in the east-, west- and southbound directions.
At Reach SE-3, which is one-third done, utility relocation work continued just west of County Road 81. Water and sewer utilities are now complete, and crews have installed a series of conduits to facilitate the remaining dry utility relocations. Crews have also installed and are backfilling a precast concrete box culvert where a future maintenance road will cross Drain 51.
Reach SE-4, near Comstock, Minnesota, is 26% completed as work approaches 160th Avenue South (Clay County Road 2). A mile north, at 150th Avenue South, the road is temporarily closed for constructing the embankment and ditch crossings as well as the future roadway, which will pass up and over the southern embankment there. Farther north, several roadway crossings and realignments are already complete and have re-opened to traffic, including 140th Avenue, 130th Avenue and 3rd Street.
Stormwater Diversion Channel: Excavation work continues around the clock on the 30-mile channel. Work on Reach 14, which is just downstream of the Diversion Inlet Structure, is now nearing completion. Excavation in this area establishes a permanent connection between the upstream-most end of the stormwater diversion channel and the downstream end of the Diversion Inlet Structure.
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.