FARGO, N.D. (MFDA) – Two more of the 19 crossings over the 30-mile storm water diversion channel opened to traffic. That bridge work involved placing 500 bridge girders and 28,000 cubic yards of concrete, which is enough to fill 3.5 Goodyear blimps.
The County Road 22 crossing opened earlier this month, and work continued nearby with removing those bypass lanes.
West of the Fargo-Moorhead metro area and north of I-94, BNSF crews completed track and ballast work as well as mainline track tie-ins for westbound rail traffic at the KO crossing. Westbound trains were permanently rerouted over the completed channel crossing on March 18th, and the eastbound lane opened this week.
Additionally, ASN Constructors completed the last concrete placement for the 19 channel crossings. With the concrete railings now placed, the 52nd Avenue West bridge is one step closer to opening this year along with County Roads 6 and 14 – the last of the project’s 19 bridges.
Beyond crossings, ASN Constructors assembled and installed the horizontal truss segment of the Maple River Aqueduct’s vertical lift gate support structure this month. Much like the gated control structures to the south, the gate will operate to regulate river flows during times of extreme flood risk.
This progress toward permanent flood protection and other FM Area Diversion project updates can be viewed in a new drone video update at https://youtu.be/MU6IDoPvouk.
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.