Key flood protection features advancing
Submitted Photo The Mi-7 flood wall separates the Souris River from the Roosevelt Park mall area that will be the site of relocated Roosevelt Park Zoo exhibits once construction is completed. Photo from the Souris River Joint Board.
Submitted Photo A replacement bridge at Mouse River Park is shown during construction in July. It is expected to be completed by the end of August. Photo from the Souris River Joint Board.
Submitted Photo The Mi-7 flood wall separates the Souris River from the Roosevelt Park mall area that will be the site of relocated Roosevelt Park Zoo exhibits once construction is completed. Photo from the Souris River Joint Board.
Submitted Photo A replacement bridge at Mouse River Park is shown during construction in July. It is expected to be completed by the end of August. Photo from the Souris River Joint Board.
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Construction on the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project's Maple Diversion is getting closer, with advance work likely to start this fall, according to Ryan Ackerman, administrator for the Souris River Joint Board.
Ackerman informed the Ward County Commission Tuesday, Aug. 4, that engineers have completed about 90% of the design of the southwest Minot project that includes two river closure structures and flood protection features along a channel that will bypass water during times of high river flow. Once the Maple Diversion is completed and tied into existing completed phases, about 60% of Minot residents will be protected from a flood of the magnitude of the 2011 event.
Utility relocation in the Maple Diversion area was completed a few years ago and design work has been proceeding for the construction portion. The federal government has allocated $61.45 million toward this phase of the flood protection project.
"We anticipate starting construction on a portion of this by sometime later this fall, and that portion is likely to be some work on the CPKC rail bridge that needs to be done in advance of some of the larger construction features," Ackerman said.
Construction on the Maple Diversion project is estimated to take six years to complete, he said.
Meanwhile, the MI-6 phase, from about Third Street East to Roosevelt Park, and MI-7, in progress at the park and zoo, are largely on schedule, Ackerman said. The expectation is to have Central Avenue open from Third Street to Seventh Street later this year, he said.
"But the section from Seventh Street to Roosevelt Park will remain closed to traffic over the winter and will be opened up likely by the middle of next summer. A lot of flood wall work has to still go on there," he said.
Within Roosevelt Park, flood control construction is largely complete, Ackerman said.
"We’re now in the process of basically putting the park back together," he said. "We have multiple contracts that have been put in place for reconstruction of several zoo exhibits that were taken out to make way for the levees and flood walls, as well as the relocation of all of the zoo features that were on the north side of the river."
The relocated exhibits are being accommodated in what used to be a portion of Roosevelt Park, in the area where the Theodore Roosevelt statue stood until it was moved to a new site along Burdick Expressway near the zoo.
The Magic City Express, a miniature railroad that travels through the park, is getting new tracks and a new aluminum tunnel. The train's maintenance building is completed.
The park also will feature a new restroom facility near the pickleball courts that is expected to be open soon. Construction will end on the north end of Roosevelt Park in late summer, with work in the zoo continuing through the fall. Reconstruction of the exhibit for camels has started.
The Souris River Joint Board also has directed design work to begin on several of the phases outside of Minot, Ackerman said. Surveyors are collecting information and drill rigs are getting out in the field to start the geotechnical evaluations, he said.
Work will be going on around areas that include Brooks Addition, Robinwood, Country Club Acres, Talbotts Mobile Home Park, Apple Grove, Eastside Estates and Chaparelle Addition.
Two replacement bridges currently are under construction at Mouse River Park in Renville County and Velva in McHenry County. The Mouse River Park bridge construction should wrap up by the end of August, Ackerman said.
"In Velva, we are basically building that bridge one half at a time to maintain one lane of traffic across the existing structure. So, that’s going to take two full seasons to get that project completed," he said.
The estimated $1.5 billion project is being built as funding becomes available. Ackerman estimated it has been 35% funded, with a projection to finish the project in another 14 years.