Mar. 12—ST. PAUL — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $42.2 million contract to build a four-mile segment of the Fargo-Moorhead metro flood protection project’s 21-mile earthen embankment.

The contract was awarded Monday, March 11, to R.J. Zavoral & Sons Inc. of East Grand Forks, Minnesota. The section of the embankment the company will be working on stretches from an existing reach of embankment near Horace to the

Wild Rice River structure,

which are both under construction, according to a release from the Corps of Engineers. In total, the section is approximately 4.1 miles long.

The embankment material will come from a ditch adjacent to the embankment, the release said.

The project will include two road crossings at County Road 16 and 45th Street South. It will also include utility relocations and temporary water control structures adjacent to the Wild Rice River Structure and at County Road 16.

The contract is the fourth awarded of multiple contracts planned for construction of the southern embankment, the release said.

The Corps is working in partnership on this project with the cities of Fargo and Moorhead and the Metro Flood Diversion Authority. The Diversion Authority is working with the Red River Alliance, a consortium of major construction companies, to build the diversion channel and associated infrastructure.

The Red River diversion project will provide flood risk reduction for nearly 260,000 people and 70 square miles of infrastructure in the communities of Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargo, Horace and Harwood.

The project is on track for completion in time to protect against flooding beginning in the spring of 2027.