Southeast Main Avenue, 20th Street & 21st Street Railroad Grade Separation in Moorhead, MN

Southeast Main Avenue intersects 20th Street and 21st Street in eastern Moorhead, Minnesota. Both streets are key arterial roadways that handle significant traffic volumes. A Burlington Northern-Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad line, known as the Moorhead Subdivision, cuts diagonally through this intersection, creating safety and operational challenges. Additionally, the Otter Tail Valley (OTV) rail line crosses the northern approach on 21st Street, adding to the complexity.

The OTV tracks merge with the BNSF tracks just south of the BNSF Mainline, slightly north of the 20th/21st Street crossings. While there is a westerly connection from this joint track to the east-west BNSF Mainline, there is no easterly connection. As a result, trains traveling between the east Mainline (Dilworth Yards) and either the OTV or Moorhead Subdivision lines must reverse direction at the junction. This process blocks rail traffic on the BNSF Mainline and vehicle traffic at several high-volume downtown grade crossings, causing frequent delays.

Growing safety and operational concerns made grade separation of the rail crossings a necessity. In response, the City of Moorhead secured federal funding to develop a project aimed at grade-separating Southeast Main Avenue, 20th Street, and 21st Street from the BNSF and OTV tracks. The project also explored the feasibility of constructing a direct easterly connection between the BNSF Mainline and the Moorhead Subdivision/OTV tracks to improve operational efficiency.

SRF provided comprehensive preliminary and final design services, prepared an Environmental Assessment, and conducted additional project development activities for this complex infrastructure improvement. Our team developed and evaluated alternatives for constructing both roadway and railroad facilities.

To ensure 50-year flood protection for the underpass, SRF designed a high-capacity pump station featuring four 150-horsepower pumps and 4,000 feet of 48-inch forcemain, capable of handling 80 cubic feet per second.

In addition to design work, SRF delivered construction observation and surveying services for the pump station, watermain, sanitary sewer, retaining walls, temporary and permanent traffic signals, bridges, and roadway.

Resource links:
City of Moorhead
BNSF Railway
MnDOT Corridor Study Report PDF: 20th St and TH 75 (8th Street)

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