Jan. 21, 2026

The $3B Project That Saved Fargo

The $3B Project That Saved Fargo
Season 1

After Fargo’s 2009 record flood fight when the community mobilized to sandbag and the city came within inches of disaster leaders knew a permanent solution was no longer optional.

Dr. Dennis D. Truax talks with civil engineer Joel Paulsen, former Executive Director of the Fargo–Moorhead Flood Diversion Authority, about the Fargo–Moorhead Diversion Project: a $3B+ infrastructure effort combining federal, state, local, and private financing including a historic public-private partnership (P3) with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

They explore the project’s scope, the risk-management strategy behind the delivery model, the upstream landowner challenges, and why stable funding is often the difference between a project that’s approved and one that’s actually built.

  • Why Fargo floods: flat terrain + north-flowing river + spring melt

  • 1997 Grand Forks and the wake-up call for Fargo

  • 2009 record flood fight and near-loss event

  • The diversion concept + flood control gates and structures

  • Funding reality: appropriations, cost-benefit, and why innovation mattered

  • P3 pilot project: how the delivery model was split

  • Local sales tax + bi-state joint powers authority

  • Rural impacts: litigation, mitigation, easements, and relocation

  • Measurable benefits: floodplain removal + insurance + economic growth

  • Leadership takeaway: never take no for an answer