Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques

Red River Floodway

Intended to prevent a repetition of the disastrous Red River Flood of 1950, which inundated Winnipeg, the Floodway was a federal-provincial project built at a cost of $62.7 million. It supplemented a system of permanent dikes along the Red and Assiniboine rivers constructed in the early 1950s. Begun by the Duff Roblin Government in 1962 and completed in 1968, The Floodway, and the related Portage Diversion, Shellmouth Dam and Reservoir, were prinicipal recommendations in 1958 of the Manitoba Royal Commission on Flood Cost-Benefit.

Now popularly known as “Duff's Ditch,” the Floodway created a 47-kilometre channel from St. Norbert to near Lockport, allowing for the discharge of potential floodwaters of 1,700 cubic metres/second. One of the largest excavation projects in Canada, it required removal of 76.5 million cubic metres of earth and accommodation or relocation of aqueducts, highways, power and railway lines.