Three I-90 bridges slated to be rebuilt

I-90 construction season is upon Mineral County resident once again.

So many people ask, “What are they doing this time?”

The Montana Department of Transportation announced last week that they are developing plans to replace three bridges west of Alberton, but jackhammers and orange cones won’t be seen until 2025, or later.

MDT is in the development stage of this gigantic project, Tyler Manning, assistant to Brandon Coates, Public Involvement Manager, RBCI shared.

“It's still in design phase so we don’t actually know at this point,” when it came to the question of replacing all three bridges at the same time or one at a time.

“It could be one contractor doing all three bridges at different times, one after another. Or all (bridges) at one time. Information is vague but it’s going to happen.”

The bridges were built in 1965 and so much has changed in materials, layout, equipment, labor, techniques and machinery that when it comes to actual construction, everything is on the table with engineers going through all of the possibilities.

“There’s another project we have in the state that’s over by Bozeman and Livingston called the Quinn Creek project. They literally built a bridge in the median and then they slide it over into place. It’s called accelerated bridge building. So many new techniques to work with that were not around 60 years ago. Again, we don’t know today and that’s a possibility but those are massive bridges over there.”

The bridge bureau of the DOT has been looking at all the bridges over the years in the county and these bridges are still safe to travel on but have aged to the point of needing replacement.

The bridges are in the westbound lanes of I-90. The bridges carry I 90 traffic over:

• Old Highway 10 and Elizabeth Lane 9 ½ miles west of Alberton

• Clark Fork River near Alberton Gorge approximately 8.5 miles west of Alberton

• Clark Fork River near Cyr approximately 5 miles west of Alberton

The new bridges will have additional low-maintenance features and safety improvements, like upgraded guardrails and improved bridge drainage. The bridges are expected to provide a safe crossing and last for several decades.