County to seek federal grant to remove Red Bridge

Flathead County will apply for about $280,000 in grant money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay the bulk of the costs to remove the Red Bridge over the Flathead River near Columbia Falls.

After hearing from Public Works Director Dave Prunty and Planning Director BJ Grieve, commissioners on Thursday directed county employees to begin work on the grant application.

Prunty said HDR Inc. personnel estimated it would cost $374,206 to remove the bridge. That price would cover engineering, design, construction oversight and removal.

The county would be required to match 25 percent, or about $93,550.

Commissioners and county Administrator Mike Pence discussed where that matching amount would come from within the county’s budget.

Prunty said his bridge fund budget holds about $800,000 and if commissioners choose to use that fund, he would alter his plans to do less bridge work in the coming year. Pence said payment-in-lieu-of-tax money also could be used to pay the county’s share. County officials use PILT money for one-time costs rather than items in the county’s budget that require continual funding.

Grieve and Commissioners Dale Lauman and Jim Dupont all said it’s not the county’s desire to remove the historic bridge, but increasing liability concerns about the structure and the fact that no one has stepped forward with money to restore it have left them thinking that removal is the only good option.

“Our objective is to deal with the liability, not to tear down a bridge,” Grieve said. “The best cost alternative is to look at removing the bridge.”

FEMA officials told Grieve they are concerned about the Red Bridge because of the risk of it collapsing into the river. If that occurred during a flood, the bridge would grab everything floating down the river including logs, he said. Such a jam could create a second or larger hazard.

Prunty echoed the liability concerns.

“I believe the bridge is a serious liability,” he said. “I have terrible concerns with someone getting up on it and jumping and getting hurt.”

Bridge department workers have repeatedly installed fencing to prevent people from accessing the bridge, but Prunty said the material gets cut open frequently.

Dupont said it’s “ironic that the same group wanting to do something with the bridge was the first to say it was a hazard.”

He was referring to First Best Place, which had applied for county trails project funds to rehabilitate the bridge as part of a walking and bicycle path. Last fall, when that group failed to come up with any of its share of funding for the work, commissioners said they wouldn’t continue to earmark funds for that project, but would consider it later if the group came up with the required matching funds.

Lauman commended the volunteers who tried to find money to restore the bridge. The price tag, however, is daunting, he said.

“It’s cost-prohibitive to rehabilitate it,” he said. “And it is a huge liability to Flathead County.”

Grieve said during the grant application process, if a private group stepped forward with restoration funds for the bridge, the grant process could stop.

The FEMA money is in the agency’s hazard mitigation fund. Because Montana was declared a disaster area following floods in 2011, a certain pot of money was set aside for the state to address flood mitigation, Grieve said.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.