Heavy trucks filled with clay and heavy rocks rumble down U.S. Highway 2 and other roads all day and night, crews racing to keep ahead of Devils Lake, even as the lake slowly recedes this fall from its summer peak.
Hills are being leveled to obtain the nearly 14 million cubic yards of clay needed to raise roads and dikes.
Contractors travel an hour or more to communities such as Edinburg and Walhalla, N.D., where there enough rock -- the big boulders used as riprap to keep the wind-driven waves from washing away the roadways -- to complete these massive projects. That's creating additional truck traffic for miles around.
Along some roads, motorists wait in line, waiting for pilot cars to lead them through seemingly endless construction zones.
The Devils Lake Chamber of Commerce issues daily traffic reports, which include immediate road construction projects and estimated times of delay.
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"Keeping traffic moving safely through project areas requires continuous attention because of the large amounts of equipment working in the area," said Greg Semenko, Devils Lake assistant district engineer with the North Dakota Department of Transportation.
The lake, which has risen by about 32 feet since 1993, reached a record elevation this year of 1,454.4 feet above sea level. That's about 3.6 feet below the elevation at which it would spill through a natural outlet at Stump Lake, which could cause catastrophic damage downstream.
It was at 1,453.6 feet Tuesday afternoon.
The 18-year-old flood fight has cost more than $1 billion, to raise roads, dikes and water and sewer systems, to move people out of harm's way and to prevent or mitigate further losses.
The majority of the road projects are expected to be complete this fall. A couple likely will not be finished until next year, according to Semenko.
The Devils Lake dike project is on target to be complete by November 2012.
"The biggest challenge is trying to achieve maximum production while minimizing the impacts to traffic," Semenko said.
Reach Bonham at (701) 780-1110; (800) 477-6572, ext. 110; or send email to kbonham@gfherald.com .
