Old bridge to be closedfor repairs

The Daily Inter Lake

The Old Steel Bridge east of Kalispell is being closed for repairs, the Flathead County Bridge Department announced on Friday.

The repairs will begin on Tuesday.

The work is expected to take about six weeks, according to a department press release. The bridge will be closed 24 hours a day, seven days a week during that period.

The repairs, which are estimated to cost about $40,000, are intended to address various safety problems identified during a state inspection earlier this year.

Nobody from the Bridge Department was available to comment Friday on the exact nature of the repairs.

However, Flathead County Commissioner Joe Brenneman previously indicated that it would involve replacing portions of the structure's wood decking, including some or most of the long "wear" boards that run in the direction of traffic, as well as some of the underlying transverse boards that run from side to side.

The hope is that this will keep the Old Steel Bridge open for another few years until the state builds a replacement bridge.

Brenneman said it's possible that more serious problems will be uncovered during the repairs. If that happens, the county may need to re-evaluate what to do with the structure.