BISMARCK, N.D. — BNSF Railway’s long-delayed effort to replace its aging bridge between Bismarck and Mandan, N.D., is on the verge of getting federal and state approval — but the preservation group that wants to save the structure is considering mounting a legal effort to stop demolition of the existing structure.
The Bismarck Tribune reports the U.S. Coast Guard has finished its environmental review of the project, which would replace the structure with piers dating to 1883 and spans from 1905 with a new bridge over the Missouri River. That clears the way for a formal decision next month approving demolition of the current span, built by Northern Pacific; North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality has said it intends to approve the project.
The Coast Guard has jurisdiction in the matter because the bridge crosses a navigable waterway. Its final Environmental Impact Statement concludes the bridge “needs to be replaced to safely move future rail traffic,” and that the best alternative is to remove the current bridge and build a new one about 20 feet away.
BNSF has long sought to replace the bridge, in part because its age requires a 25-mph slow order, but its efforts have been slowed by the Friends of the Rail Bridge group, which hopes to save the structure as a pedestrian and bike path. At one time, the railroad and Friends group were party to an agreement to allow preservation efforts to proceed, but BNSF said in 2021 the group failed to live up to terms of the agreement and asked the Coast Guard to allow demolition efforts to move forward [see “BNSF seeks end to Missouri River bridge preservation efforts …,” Trains News Wire, May 3, 2021]
The preservation group subsequently claimed the bridge was actually owned by the state, an argument the railroad called “absurd” and one the state declined to support [see “State again declines to address Bismarck rail bridge ownership,” News Wire, May 10, 2022].
But the head of the Friends group says that the opportunity still existed to save the bridge “based on the numerous legal shortcuts and errors in the EIS.” The group also claimed the ownership issue has still not been adequately addressed, and compared the bridge’s significance to the Bismarck area as comparable to that of the Eiffel Tower for the people of France.
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