Times of crisis often serve to unite communities. Every spring, the residents of Fargo-Moorhead brace themselves for the potential of severe flooding. The area, which straddles the border between North Dakota and Minnesota in the United States, is split by the Red River of the North and is home to nearly 260,000 people. In the past 20 years, severe flooding has ravaged the area seven times.
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The flat landscape and northward flow of the river, coupled with snow melt flowing from south to north, make the area extremely prone to flooding, and with climate change expected to increase the frequency of these floods, the Red River poses serious risks.
The Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion project was initiated to combat these risks. The comprehensive project is a landmark climate change mitigation development, intended to offset the risk of flooding by building a stormwater diversion channel, in-town levees, and a southern embankment with upstream staging and control structures. The stormwater diversion channel is being constructed by Red River Valley Alliance (RRVA)โa joint venture of partners and contractors from Spain, Israel, and Canadaโas a public-private partnership (P3) construction contract. The in-town levees are being constructed by local sponsors and the southern embankment and control structures are being constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
As the first P3 between the Metro Flood Diversion Authority and USACE, the channel component of the project is a prototype for the split-delivery model nationwide and is the largest P3 water management project in North America. It is also the first green bonds finance project in the United States designed for climate change adaptation.
Once complete, the channel will be 1,500 feet wide and capable of passing more than 20,000 cubic feet of water per second. It will effectively route water around the Fargo-Moorhead area, reducing the height of the river by roughly 7 feet and providing permanent flood protection.
The channel component of the overall project is a 30-mile stormwater diversion channel that stretches from south of Horace, North Dakota, to north of Argusville, North Dakota, opposite Georgetown, Minnesota, where the diversion outlet will return water to the Red River. It features two first-of-their-kind aqueducts to route the Maple and Sheyenne Rivers over the channel and allow for fish migration, drainage inlets, and infrastructure such as road and rail crossings.
The largest P3 water management project in North America and the first green bonds finance project in the United States designed for climate change adaptation
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In 2016, we were engaged as the lead design firm for RRVA, responsible for overseeing a team of designers working on the channel component of the project.
Our responsibilities as lead designer on this component center on supervising the hydraulic modeling and design aspects while coordinating with unit managers to certify that our designs are thoroughly reviewed, conflict-free, and that all components integrate seamlessly. This includes addressing necessary utility relocations, for instance, fiber-optic cables formerly placed 5 feet below ground required relocation deeper underground prior to excavating a 30-foot-deep channel.
The regionโs unique climate and geography called for innovative design concepts. The cold weather requires aqueducts equipped with heating systems to prevent freezing and allow for fish passage. And the regionโs soil, particularly the Brenna clays, are unstable and difficult to work with, requiring specialized geotechnical and structural designs to ensure stability. Utilizing advanced tools, we optimized excavation while still providing flood protection benefits.
The extreme cold also affects the concrete and steel needed for the project. In response, heated enclosures, insulated blankets, pre-warming materials, and cold-weather admixtures were the viable solutions to keep materials from freezing. The clay-like material being excavated, however, becomes easier to move when itโs frozen, allowing work to continue 24/7, all year long.
Innovation is not just technical but also logistical within the design team, involving coordination across multiple time zones and languages. With team members from around the globe, effective communication remains paramount. As a facilitator, we make sure that local terminology and practices are clearly understood by all parties.
With more than 5,000 drawings generated for this project, we are accountable for verifying that each element depicted across these drawings is compatible, constructible, and functions without issue. As the channel component of the project is executed, we provide technical oversight, addressing the projectโs unique complexity with rigorous construction oversight to confirm that intricate designs are executed with precision. With multiple contractors involved, coordinating quality across all teams is complex. Effective communication and oversight are crucial. Regular coordination meetings among stakeholders, detailed documentation and reporting systems, centralized communication platforms, and regular training and workshops have helped maintain a high standard of work across all teams.
Hatch has been incredibly important to the success of this project. The timelines have been demanding and the range of technical issues has been very diverse. Theyโve successfully provided the right expertise at the right time through each phase of the project and have been very important to the delivery of
a successful project.
โ Local Affairs Manager April Walker,
Red River Valley Alliance
Red River Valley Alliance
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By leveraging global resources, we have reflected our partners’ strategies, bringing together contributions from around the world. We collaborated with the owner’s engineer to create a quality management system tailored to the project’s massive scale and strict requirements.
โThis project gives the community back a peaceful river,โ shared Red River Valley Alliance CEO Javier Velasco. โInstead of needing to initiate emergency flood protection measures that disrupt the entire community, the stormwater diversion channel will allow floodwaters to be routed around the metro area and allow springtime to be a time of renewal instead of sandbagging.โ
His words reflect why we do capital projects. In a community accustomed to being brought together by catastrophe, itโs a privilege to bring permanent, positive change.
