BISMARCK, N.D. — In a new twist to a lengthy battle by a preservation group to save a BNSF Railway bridge over the Missouri River between Bismarck and Mandan, N.D. — which has thwarted railroad efforts to build a new structure — the Friends of the Rail Bridge is claiming the bridge in question actually belongs to the state of North Dakota, not the railroad.
The Bismarck Tribune reports the preservation group is basing its argument on the concept that Congress held in trust structures in navigable rivers, including the bridge built by the Northern Pacific in Dakota Territory in 1864, and that it transferred to North Dakota upon statehood in 1889 because Congress did not specifically grant ownership to the railroad.
State ownership would give the bridge protections under North Dakota law, requiring the State Historical Board to approve the structure’s demolition, Mark Zimmerman, the Friends board president, told the newspaper.
BNSF spokesman Amy McBeth said the railroad is preparing a response and called it “interesting” that the ownership question has only been raised after five years and 20 meetings.
BNSF has been seeking for years to replace the 1,525-foot-long bridge, which rises 70 feet above the river and features piers built by NP in 1882 and a superstructure dating to 1905. Because of its age, it currently requires a 25-mph speed restriction. But the efforts of the preservation group have complicated the permitting process for the new bridge [see “BNSF focuses on regulatory challenges …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 8, 2019].
The railroad, U.S. Coast Guard — which is involved because the Missouri River is a navigable water way — and the Friends group reached an agreement in January 2021 that allowed BNSF replacement efforts to move forward without a decision on the final disposition of the current bridge. But the railroad asked permission to move ahead later that year, citing the preservation group’s failure to meet some terms of the earlier agreement [see “BNSF seeks to end Missouri River Bridge preservation efforts …,” News Wire, May 3, 2021].
The Friends group is now seeking to exit the January 2021 agreement, saying it placed an “undue burden” on the group to fund a proposed conversion of the existing bridge for pedestrian use.
BNSF’s McBeth says that if the existing bridge remains, it could increase costs of a new structure by $50 million and lead to a delay of several years to account for new design work and other changes.
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