Posted on May 23, 2022
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, awarded a $7.7 million contract to HSG Park Joint Venture, LLC, of Harvey, North Dakota, to complete a fish passage structure at Drayton Dam, located around 60 miles north of Grand Forks, North Dakota, on the Red River of the North.
This project is being constructed as environmental mitigation for impacts to the Red River associated with the Fargo, North Dakota/Moorhead, Minnesota, Metropolitan Area Flood Risk Management Project, or FM Area Diversion. Drayton Dam is the last dam on the Red River mainstem to be improved for fish passage and serves as an opportunity to complete biologic connectivity on this important resource. This project includes removing the existing Drayton Dam and constructing a new dam 300 feet upstream to include a rock rapids fishway.
The Corps is working in partnership on the Drayton Dam fish passage project with the cities of Drayton, Fargo and Moorhead; the Metro Flood Diversion Authority; the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“We appreciate all of the work with our community partners and all the public input that went into this project,” said Col. Karl Jansen, St. Paul District commander. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is committed to preserving natural habitats in the rivers upon which we work.”
The FM Area Diversion will provide flood risk management for more than 235,000 people and 70 square miles of infrastructure in the communities of Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargo, Horace and Harwood. The project includes a 30-mile-long diversion channel in North Dakota with upstream staging. The plan includes a 20-mile-long southern embankment, 19 highway bridges, three railroad bridges, three gated control structures and two aqueduct structures.
