Granted, Fargo was larger than GF pre-interstate, but there was a brief period of time that Grand Forks was growing faster than Fargo, despite Fargo's geographic advantage. Prior to the interstate Fargo still had Hwy's 10 and 81, while GF had 2 and 81. Since 10 came through the Cities and headed toward the NW into Fargo, it is a natural distribution line. The one time when GF was growing faster is when the GFAFB came into the picture and GF's growth rate surpassed Fargo's. When the interstates were built Grand Forks was 80 miles too far out of the way, thus being the impetus for the growth of Fargo. Of course the flood didn't help either.