Fargo-Moorhead project celebrates another major milestone

By Patrick MoesOctober 7, 2022

Fargo-Moorhead project celebrates another major milestone
Corps senior leaders and elected officials shovel dirt at the P3 groundbreaking in Fargo, North Dakota, Aug 9. (Photo Credit: Shannon Bauer) VIEW ORIGINAL

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leaders witnessed yet another major milestone Aug. 9, near Fargo, North Dakota, as the Metro Flood Diversion Authority broke ground on their portion of a project that includes a 30-mile diversion channel.

In a field with construction equipment near the site where the diversion channel will tie back into the Red River of the North, elected officials from North Dakota and Minnesota, as well as senior leaders within the Corps of Engineers to include Jaime Pinkham, Principal Deputy for Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works; Stacey Brown, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works (Management and Budget); Maj. Gen. Holland, Mississippi Valley Division commander; and Col. Eric Swenson, St. Paul District commander, gathered to provide some perspective on this milestone, which was years in the making.

“The communities of Fargo and Moorhead and the Army Corps of Engineers have a long history dating back to the early 1950s working side-by-side to manage flood events,” said Swenson. “Today we are taking a small step, or scoop of dirt, which symbolizes the earthwork that will soon define a large step forward – a step that will shift our efforts from flood fighting to flood prevention.”

The symbolic groundbreaking is another step toward protecting more than 235,000 residents and 70 square miles of infrastructure within the greater Fargo, North Dakota - Moorhead, Minnesota, Metro Area, said Terry Williams, St. Paul District program manager in charge of the Corps of Engineers’ portion of the flood diversion project. She added that this project is one of the top priorities for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and her team is working together with the local partners to reduce flood risk to the area, which includes implementation using an alternative financing/split delivery approach.

The financing and delivery concept, also known as a public private partnership, or P3, is the first of its kind within the Corps of Engineers’ civil works program. “Utilizing the P3/split delivery approach enables us to provide flood risk management benefits 10 years sooner when compared to traditional delivery methods,” said Williams, a North Dakota native. She added that the project is expected to provide benefits to the region as soon 2027.

Williams said the split delivery includes the sponsor using a 30-year public private partnership delivery to finance, design, build, operate and maintain the diversion channel and associated features. She added that the Corps of Engineers efforts include designing and constructing the Diversion Inlet Structure, the Wild Rice and Red River structures, 20 miles of dam embankments and associated road raises to include a 4-mile raise of I-29. “We currently have more than $300 million under construction to include seven of the 13 planned federal contracts,” said Williams.

While the Fargo/Moorhead Metro Area is on its way to significantly reducing future flood risks, the P3 funding concept is growing as a delivery solution within the Corps of Engineers as communities look to create resilient infrastructure against future flood threats. “The implementation of this project using public, private partnership provides proof of concept and represents a new era in community-based infrastructure investment,” said Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, U.S Army Corps of Engineers 55th chief of engineers and commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Williams said the need to innovate and to find solutions that work for everyone, is just one of the reasons that the Corps of Engineers Fargo-Moorhead team supporting the P3 effort was recently selected as the Corps of Engineers Project Delivery Team of the Year for Excellence. “This team was able to accelerate the delivery of this critical project and met every challenge associated with doing something technically and procedurally complex for the very first time,” said Williams.

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