Jill Schramm/MDN Children move sand last August as adults fill their shovels to toss the first ceremonial ground last October for the construction of the Magic City Discovery Center.

A pandemic and concerns about funding haven’t stopped construction in the Minot region.

“For us, construction has been strong,” said Dave Schwengler, Minot office manager for Houston Engineering. “The past year was a good year for construction. That was one of the industries that kept working through the pandemic.”

He expects more of the same for 2021.

“There’s a lot of big projects out there right now, even some development work starting to pick back up a little bit,” he said.

Houston is providing the engineering for the Northwest Area Water Supply project. The State Water Commission this winter awarded the general contractor bid on the biota treatment plant near Max to Stantec of Colorado. The electrical contract went to Main Electric of Minot and the plumbing and heating to Mowbray & Son of Minot.

Groundbreaking on the three-year biota plant project is expected to begin this month, according to Tim Freije, NAWS manager with the water commission. Much of the initial work will be dirt work. Crews will be augering holes for placing 474 piles to anchor the future plant.

Design work on Snake Creek modifications to provide for water intake should be completed and ready to go to bid this fall, Freije said. In the meantime, the water commission is working on getting U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ permits and completing the design work on a hydraulic control structure and reservoir in the South Prairie area.

The last 15 miles of NAWS pipeline are to be completed by fall and will enable the city of Bottineau to begin receiving water from Minot and eventually from the Missouri River/Lake Sakakawea once the other features in the works are completed.

An ongoing $28 million expansion at the Minot Water Treatment Plant is to be completed by summer.

Freije said there will be a few smaller projects to create the necessary reservoir and pumping facilities to finish the distribution system.

Schwengler said Houston also is working with the City of Minot on water main improvements and finishing the new southwest water tower. He foresees additional development coming to southwest Minot in the years ahead as the hospital project is completed. Already, Bremer Bank is proposing to begin construction on a new building at 1615 36th Ave. SW.

Outside of Minot, projects are planned to re-gravel missile field access roads and advance flood protection in Burlington, said Jeff McElwain, project engineer and partner at Ackerman-Estvold, Minot. Smaller communities also have a few projects, such as a multi-use path to be built in Mohall.

“It seems like there’s a pretty decent amount of work out there, and I know that the DOT (North Dakota Department of Transportation) has quite a few design projects out so that will come down the road,” McElwain said.

“The more funding the better because all of the infrastructure is falling behind.”

Ryan Ackerman, president of Ackerman-Estvold, said there is focus by state and local governments on the problems associated with deferred maintenance.

“We spent the last 10 years basically building new to accommodate massive growth. Well, there wasn’t a lot of attention paid to some of the infrastructure that we collectively, as a state, had,” he said. “I think that focus on taking care of the aging infrastructure that we have is a really important focus going forward.”

The shortage of funds for billions of dollars in water projects also has created a backlog of work in the state.

“That really demonstrates – just beyond the flood control or the large regional water systems – that there is a significant need for municipal water systems, rural water systems. Local water resource districts have water resource project needs that they need to address, whether that’s addressing problematic drainage or irrigation,” Ackerman said.

The number of regional infrastructure projects was down last year from past levels, largely because of lack of funding, said Kent Indvik, president of Wold Engineering, Minot.

“All the counties were hoping for the Prairie Dog Bill for money for infrastructure, and that never transpired,” he said. A significant drop in oil activity and uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic left political subdivisions tightening their budgets and scaling back project plans. Even this year, some counties that depend on oil revenue to help with road projects are holding off on some plans, said Indvik, whose company works in about 16 counties.

“Counties and the cities always get federal aid every year, but that’s limited. A lot of counties have to build it up for five years before they have enough money to be able to do a project,” Indvik said.

Going into 2021, he said, the workload appears similar to 2020, although much rests on spending decisions of the North Dakota Legislature.

“Quite a few of our counties have plans shelf ready,” Indvik said. “So if the counties do get some money, we’ll be able to turn around and bid them out right away.”

While the level of activity is similar throughout the region, the types of projects vary, Indvik said. Divide County has been working on a phased regrading project on 19 miles of road, with a future plan to add paving. In Bottineau County, which has more than 140 bridges, the focus is on its bridge replacement schedule, with plans already being made for work not expected to occur until 2023.

It’s not all roads and bridges on the construction schedule, though.

Ryan Anderson, a vice president and architecture lead at Ackerman-Estvold, listed the Magic City Discovery Center, a children’s museum, as one of the more significant projects to get started in Minot this year. The 22,000-square-foot museum is about a $14 million project.

Another prominent project is the ongoing construction at the Souris Valley Animal Shelter. The existing building was in rough shape and will get a huge upgrade, Anderson said. Completion is expected in July.

Minot Public Schools also issued a request for proposals for an architect for a second high school. Although funding remains to be addressed, that would be a major project in the future.

Ackerman-Estvold also has been working on the Fort Berthold Reservation with the tribe to finish construction on phase three of an outdoor waterpark on the Four Bears Peninsula at New Town. Completion is expected in June.

Ackerman-Estvold is designing a second phase of a beach and recreation project to augment the work completed a few years ago on the south end of the peninsula, near the casino. Anderson said more construction projects are expected into the future on the reservation.