Downtown sky bridge spans Second Street

By KRISTI ALBERTSON

The Daily Inter Lake

Meredith Construction crews began work Tuesday morning on a sky bridge connecting the two Glacier Bank buildings on either side of Second Street West in downtown Kalispell. The bridge is one of the final steps of the bank's $6 million expansion, which began nearly two years ago.

"I cannot remember when we started," said President Bob Nystuen. "It's been a long time, and we're anxious for the project to be done."

He expects the majority of the work to be finished by mid-February. The sky bridge should be nearly complete by the end of that month, said Russ Skelton of Architects Northwest, who designed the bridge.

"It probably won't be in use yet, but it will be close," he said.

Crews used a 50-ton crane to raise a pair of 20-ton concrete beams Tuesday morning. The 50-foot beams were precast in Spokane and shipped by truck to Kalispell.

"They're 3 feet deep, so they're pretty huge," Skelton said.

The beams make up just one section of the bridge, spanning the street from curb to curb. On either side, 6-foot concrete sections connect the beams to the buildings.

Skelton said the next step is placing 10 vertical concrete columns along the beams to support the bridge's window frames.

The columns are the only structure that will support the windows.

"The rest of the bridge is going to be pretty much all glass," Skelton said.

As it appears now, the bridge is somewhat deceptive, he said. The beams are arched, but the walk surface of the bridge will be flat. When finished, the bridge will be heated and lit, the latter of which Skelton is particularly excited about.

"We have a real exciting lighting plan that's going to make it look kind of like it's segmented," he said. "It's kind of a guinea pig. It's going to be a true lighting feat to get this to look right."

The bridge will be open for public use, Skelton said - but only if someone needs to get from one bank building to the other. It's also completely handicap accessible.

"That was a big feature, that we have elevators that let you off at the sky-bridge landing," he said.

Second Street West will be closed for the remainder of the week while crews work on the bridge, Nystuen said. It will open for the weekend, then close again for a "considerable amount" of next week.

"We recognize it's during the holiday season and appreciate everyone's patience while we're working on the project," he said.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com