First Flood Control Cost Estimates

The cost of building flood protection in the Lincoln School area of Minot will be between 110 and 130 million dollars. That's the estimate of engineers designing a flood protection system to run through Minot. Jim Olson reports on the first look at cost estimates for a small portion of the flood protection plan.

For people living around Lincoln School in Minot, some answers may finally be at hand. The engineering firms hired by the State Water Commission to develop a flood protection system to 27,400 CFS - the level hit in the 2011 flood - have revealed cost estimates that city council members will likely use to decide from among three tentative designs in the Lincoln School area. Barr Engineering and Ackerman-Estvold Engineering designed the possible solutions for the troublesome area near Lincoln School - where the river makes a long north-south loop before heading east toward downtown Minot. The first plan, released in early November, is known as the Ramstad Alignment and follows the existing river channel. It's cost is estimated at 130-million dollars including the cost of acquiring 188 homes. The second alternative proposed in mid-November is called the Lincoln Diversion where a channel would be dug to divert water during high flows. It's estimated at 125-million dollars including the cost of acquiring 156 homes. The third design was released in December and is called the Maple Diversion. It also diverts water in high flow periods, but routes it farther away from the largest residential area. It's cost is estimated at 110-million dollars with 96 homes bought out. An engineer with Barr says the hydrology of all three options is about the same, so his company favors the Maple Diversion, because, "it will have less of a residential property impact and involve fewer levees being built." City Manager David Waind says the information will discussed at a public meeting on Tuesday night - a meeting where the city council is likely to choose one of the three plans. (David Waind, Minot City Manager) ""Following the public input the council will make a decision on which alignments to put into the engineering firms so they have the opportunity to work them into the final estimates, the final plan for consideration for the council." He says the engineers are also expected to have cost and acquisition estimates for the proposed diversion at 27th Street impacting the Souris Court and El Rio Drive areas. (David Waind, Minot City Manager) "They didn't give us the same numbers on that that we had on the others but we expect to get them before Tuesday night." Waind encourages you to look up the information online at minotrecoveryinfo.com and bring questions or concerns to your city alderman at the Tuesday night public meeting. Jim Olson, KX News. Just to be clear - these estimates of 110 to 130 million dollars are only for the Lincoln School area of the flood protection plan, there's no estimate of the total cost of the project yet. And that public hearing is Tuesday night at 6:30 at the Minot Auditorium.