Construction on new St. Mary Bridge begins
By John McGill
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:26 AM MDT
One thing everyone agreed about at the Friday, July 18, groundbreaking dedication of the new St. Mary bridge is that the old bridge, indeed, does need replacing. Jim Lynch of the Montana Department of Transportation observed its having been built in 1915 and noted its dilapidated condition. The bridge is now able to transport only one lane of traffic at a time, and nothing heavier than a pickup can go across.
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| The bridge seen here at the St. Mary River was built in 1915 and is no longer safe to convey anything heavier than a pickup truck, in addition to the twin siphon lines running across the river. In the new plans, a rerouted bridge will be built while the older structure will probably be retained as a historical site. Photo by John McGill
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The ceremonies attracted a large and varied group of dignitaries, from Lynch of MDOT, Lt. Governor John Bohlinger and U.S. Senator Max Baucus to five members of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, all three Glacier County Commissioners, Montana Senator Carol Juneau, Bob Robertson of Sletten Construction, and a host of interested people and staff members.
Lynch noted in his opening remarks that it was the Glacier County Commission that approached the state with the idea of repairing the bridge, back in 2004. Engineering on the project began in 2006, he said, and with help from Senator Max Baucus, head of the Senate Finance Committee who secured an $8 million earmark from Congress, the project is now ready to go forward. Not only did Senator Baucus secure the earmark, Lynch said Max also changed the legislation to remove a requirement for matching funds, a problem in Indian Country, so that the project will be 100% federally paid for. "Senator Baucus is the key guy in the next highway bill," Lynch noted.
In addition to the bridge, Lynch said other issues will be looked into, such as sedimentation at St. Mary Lake. He then went on to state, "This is the start of a major project, repairing the system after finishing the bridge," and said the bridge project has been contracted to Sletten Construction.
Lt. Governor Bohlinger said, "Governor Schweitzer and I were elected in 2004, and in 2005 the governor said to me that one of the most important things is the rehabilitation of the St. Mary Canal. It's a source of water for the Milk River which is a vital link for the economy on the Hi-Line." Besides irrigating more than 140,000 acres of farmland, Bohlinger said the system also provides municipal water supplies for towns as far away as Havre and Glasgow. "The first phase is to replace the 1915 bridge," Bohlinger said."
A state engineer at the ceremonies noted none of the planned St. Mary rehabilitation project can go forward until the bridge is repaired, since no heavy equipment can cross the current structure.
Newly elected Tribal Chairman Willie Sharp was accompanied by all four new members of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council. While they all expressed pleasure at the prospect of having a new bridge at St. Mary, they all said they would like to see the benefit to the Blackfeet Tribe before agreeing publicly that the rest of the rehabilitation project was something of which they approved.
The bridge repair is not legally linked to the canal project. Indeed, Don Wilson, head of the Tribe's water negotiating team, said not a single portion of the siphon rehabilitation project can go forward until either a water compact is signed or the year 2011 arrives, whichever is first. "The way it is written, the U.S. government can't do anything, even preliminary stuff like environmental work," he said, adding he'd have liked to see a date of 2015 instead "because that would have given us time to work with the [St. Mary] Working Group to push Congress to get the compact signed. "The bridge is a completely separate issue altogether," said Wilson. "It has nothing to do with the compact.
"One problem I see," Wilson continued, "is the statement that no work can be done in any fashion without the Blackfeet Tribe's involvement" and said he was concerned to hear that meetings had already occurred between the Working Group and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "The Tribe has to make sure we're involved in every phase of the thing. We have to make sure we're aware and involved. The Tribe is not entirely enthusiastic about it because it's a bigger draw on the St. Mary without addressing the needs of the Tribe, and the U.S. still says the Tribe is not entitled to water at St. Mary."
On the other hand, fixing the bridge is a clear benefit to the Blackfeet, said Wilson. "It takes care of a safety issue that's been hanging out there; in a short time [the bridge] will be condemned."
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