U.S Senator Tina Smith visits F-M Diversion Inlet Structure after $437 Million in federal fund distribution

(Horace, ND) -- A Senator is visiting North Dakota to learn more about the impacts, challenges, and successes the Fargo-Moorhead Diversion 

U.S Senator Tina Smith was joined by several local leaders at the Diversion Inlet Structure south of Horace on Wednesday. The Senator toured The Diversion project site because it is receiving approximately $437 million dollars from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Those funds will complete the remaining portions of the federal government's responsibility and work, which include the Red River control structure and the southern embankment. 

The Senator toured the walking structure on top of the lift gate, which will house water when Red River water levels are expected to rise above 37ft for spring melting conditions. With the diversion, local leaders say it is only a matter of time that members of the F-M metro will no longer have annual flood concerns.

"It is going to be a project that protects up to a 500 year flood, "said Moorhead Mayor Shelly Carlson, who was in attendance with Senator Smith, "When it floods, we're not going to even know that it's actually flooding. That just gives a lot of calmness and lessens the anxiety of everybody."

One highlight espoused by Mayor Carlson and Joel Paulsen, the Executive Director of the Metro Diversion Authority, is cost savings on local taxpayers and on the project as a whole. Paulsen says the project is currently scheduled to be completed under budget, largely because of the efficiencies of the public private partnerships, the granting of federal funds in lump-sums instead of in smaller batches, and by working with local and regional construction entities.

"There are steps that we have taken with this project that are really going to be best practices for larger scale projects around the country, "said Senator Smith.

You can learn more about the F-M Diversion Project by clicking here.