Residents of the flood-prone Red River Valley are looking forward to permanent relief with the construction of the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion Project. This complex effort was conceived to protect 230,000 people and 70 square miles of infrastructure from catastrophic flooding by limiting the flow of floodwaters into the metro area and diverting floodwater into a 30-mile-long bypass channel.
The Wild Rice River Structure is one of three gated control structures Ames Construction is building on the project’s southern embankment. The concrete structure will have two gates designed to manage Wild Rice River flows into the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area. The project scope includes dam walls, a vehicle service bridge, a stilling basin, approach apron, slope protection slab, and approach walls. Each abutment and the pier were designed and constructed with a hollow core to serve as a gallery for future maintenance and access.
Ames hit major milestones in 2022 with the delivery, assemblage, and installation of the gates. Crews successfully rerouted the river channel through the structure in early 2023.
With the completion of the existing channel embankment and east levee, service bridges, electrical controls, painting, coatings, and final turf establishment, the Wild Rice River Structure is on track to be complete by the end of the 2023 construction season.
Learn more:
Metro Flood Diversion Authority
