Groundbreaking held for Phases MI-1 4th Avenue, MI-2 Napa Valley, and MI-3 Forest Road Segments of M

Minot, N.D. – The groundbreaking was held today for the first three phases of the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project. These segments include Phases MI-1 4th Avenue, MI-2 Napa Valley, and MI-3 Forest Road in the City of Minot.

Many supporters, stakeholders and partners were on hand for the festivities including Souris River Joint Board (SRJB) Chairman David Ashley, Minot Mayor Chuck Barney, Senator John Hoeven, Lt Governor Brent Sanford, Representative Roscoe Streyle, representatives for Senator Heitkamp and Congressman Cramer, and US Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Sam Calkins.

SRJB Chairman Dave Ashley said “Today’s groundbreaking is a monumental step in flood protection efforts for the Mouse River Basin. Although it may seem like it has taken awhile, the years leading up to this point have been spent honing and developing the design, incorporating public and stakeholder input, modeling, analyzing and testing, permitting, and identifying and securing funding sources. We are now one step closer to providing flood protection for the residents of the Mouse River Basin.”

Phase MI-1 Fourth Avenue is a six block stretch of levees, floodwalls, a new sanitary lift station, and a major pump station from just west of Broadway to the east side of Third Street NE.

Phase MI-2 Napa Valley runs from the Highway 83 Bypass to 16th Street SW and will include levees, a road closure structure, and two storm water pump stations.

Phase MI-3 Forest Road provides protection on the north side of the river between 16th Street SW and the end of 3rd Ave SW, near the intersection of the Canadian Pacific Railroad and will primarily feature earthen levees.

The total cost for Phases MI-1, MI-2 and MI-3 is estimated to be $99.4 million. The cost share on these three phases is being done on a 65/35 split, with 65 percent coming from the state and 35 percent from local funds. The primary source for local funding is from a portion of the Minot city sales tax allocated to flood protection.

Construction on all three phases is scheduled to be completed in 2020. For the latest information on the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project and the first three phases go to www.mouseriverplan.com or search on Facebook for Mouse River Plan.