Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund

Clay County engineer Justin Sorum laid out another small step in the massive flood diversion project during a public hearing for the Clay County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday in Moorhead.
Sorum presented a request from the Metro Flood Diversion Authority to “Acquire and Obstruct Road right-of-way on 170th Avenue South; and Approval of Resolution 2024-33 to Take Over Road Right-of-way and Authorizing the Permanent Obstruction Thereof.”
A lot of legalese for simply losing a small east-west road portion about 12 miles south of Moorhead.
This road lies within Holy Cross Township, which surrounds and encompasses the city of Comstock, begins about seven miles south of the city of Moorhead.
In May, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in St. Paul awarded a $23.9 million contract to PWS, Inc., of Brooklyn Park, Minn., to complete the Southern Embankment Reach SE-4 portion of the Fargo-Moorhead Area flood diversion project.
The Southern Embankment Reach SE-4 portion in Clay County consists of an embankment extending from the Red River Structure, currently under construction, to the Wilkin County line.
According to the Corps, the total length of the embankment is approximately 5.7 miles.
The embankment material comes from the “borrow ditch” adjacent to the embankment. The project also included four road crossings at Third Street South, 140th Avenue South, 150th Avenue South and 160th Avenue South. It will also include two drop structures into the Red River and Wolverton Creek.
After some township and county pushback earlier this year, the Corps agreed to allow 150th to remain open.
Locals also wanted to keep 170th open, but the Corps did not relent on these wishes.
The 170th Avenue South permanent obstruction extends the project’s progress further south.
“Essentially what this public hearing is doing is notifying the landowners,” Sorum said. “And acknowledging that the county will take over that small stretch of road that will be permanently closed and obstructed by SE-4.”
Commissioner Kevin Campbell, Dist. 4, gave some brief background on the give-and-take between the Diversion Authority, the Corps, and the county and township wishes.
“Part of what we are hoping for in this whole process,” Campbell said. “Is that Holy Cross Township will come to an agreement with the Diversion Authority. It is my understanding now that that has been completed.”
But Campbell said what it all boils down to is that “we are vacating a very short section of road, and that’s really what it amounts to.”
Commissioner David Ebinger, Dist. 5, reiterated Campbell’s sentiments that negotiations have resulted in peaceful compromises.
“It’s gratifying to see that, although not everybody got what they wanted, the Corps yielded on 150th, and that kept that road open. And I’m glad there’s been a compromise on 170th and we can move ahead with the project.”
This congressionally authorized project is a 30-mile-long storm water diversion channel on the North Dakota side of the Red River with upstream staging. The plan includes a 21-mile-long southern embankment, several highway and railroad bridges, three gates control structures, and two aqueduct structures.
The project provides flood risk reduction for nearly 260,000 people and 70 square miles of infrastructure in the Fargo-Moorhead expanded metro area.