Bad weather, bad concrete slows Two Medicine bridge project

A slow start to construction this year left the Two Medicine Bridge construction crew east of East Glacier with a handful of months and much to accomplish before they close for the season.

The goal is to finish the detour from U.S. 2 and finish building the substructure, cement footings and bridge pillars on both the sides of the Two Medicine River, Montana Department of Transportation spokesperson Lori Ryan said.

Bridge contractor R.L. Wadsworth, of Utah, is currently working on the detour and pouring concrete for the substructure west of the river.

The existing two-lane bridge was built in 1941 and is considered too narrow for current traffic volume and "functionally obsolete," Ryan said. The 761-foot long bridge crosses 150 feet above the Two Medicine River with 12-foot driving lanes that have seen numerous serious vehicle accidents. There are also engineering concerns about the abutments.

The new bridge also will have two lanes but shoulders, a shared-use path and a truck-climbing lane on the east side will be added. Construction on the new bridge started in January but was hampered by the harsh winter and cold, wet spring, Ryan said.

"They're still slightly behind but catching up quickly," she said. "With a hard winter, things are weather-permitting."

Unfortunately, the $24 million project has seen more speed bumps than just bad weather. Three weeks ago, a newly poured footing had to be replaced because the concrete didn't pass inspection, Ryan said. In mid-July, Scott Burnett, of Arlee, fell 60-70 feet to his death while working on the bridge platform. The accident is under investigation.

R.L. Wadsworth's parent company, Sterling Construction, said they have set up a memorial in Burnett's honor but didn't comment further.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012, project manager Gaylen Stewart said. The project is very much schedule-driven because of the way it's being built, the concrete being used and, of course, the environment they're building in, he said.

The bridge design, a "segmental cast-in-place box girder," is the first of its kind to be built in Montana, but "in Europe it's been used extensively," Stewart said. With this system, a bridge like the Two Medicine that sits so high above the canyon can be constructed from above, he explained.

Once the substructure work is done, crews will build a box out of steel beams on each one of the pillars that will work like a "teeter-totter," self-balancing itself as concrete is poured. Crews will pour concrete on one side of the column and then pour some on the other, working their way towards the middle of the bridge. In this way, the bridge will be built in segments and then stitched together.