Moorhead Fire Department plans to reconfigure headquarters to make way for underpass

MOORHEAD, Minn. (KVRR) – The new underpass will run under two busy railroad tracks with the goal of improving safety and mobility in Moorhead.

Moorhead fire departments chief Jeff Wallin said, “Structure is going to be going north and south on 11th street from where Hornbachers is on the south side to about where our fire station is on the north side but then the streets will have to taper back to ground level for about a block, block and a half in either direction which is causing one of our problems here at the fire station where we have to redesign how were getting out of the building and how we can get in that underpass in the first place

The redesign, which is projected to cost over 100 million dollars, will allow for fire trucks to exit the building quicker and cut down on call times.

“One of the problems we’ve had at the fire department is long delays when we’ve got trains crossing the tracks to get to the south side of town from our station one and so this underpass project is really going to eliminate those delays when somebody is suffering a life threatening emergency or fire,” Said Wallin.

The fire hall will have to make significant changes to its truck doors which will be moved from the south side of the building to the northside.

Wallin also said. “This is going to be a three year construction project before everything is done and it is going to cause some delays during that time we’ll have to take alternate routes a few blocks out of our way and our fire station is being reconfigured for our trucks to exit out of the north side of the building versus the south side onto the street the way that they are right now.