Public meeting scheduled for Upper McDonald Creek Bridge replacement project

Glacier National Park will host a public meeting Tuesday to discuss the planned replacement of the Upper McDonald Creek Bridge, work on which could begin as early as this summer.

An in-person public meeting will be held at Park Headquarters in the Community Building on Albright Circle in West Glacier beginning at 5 p.m.

The planned project would replace the existing single-lane bridge and its two in-stream piers with a single-lane, clear span bridge with two sidewalks, one on each side. In addition, the project would formalize parking for the Upper McDonald Creek Trailhead west of the bridge, likely with 10 delineated head-in parking spaces.

The first bridge over the creek was constructed in 1926. That bridge was reconstructed in 1936 after repeated flood damage. After the 1964 flood washed out the bridge, the existing bridge was built in 1965.

Further flood damage over the years has restricted load capacity on the bridge to 15 tons, which is inadequate for heavy loads, including fire engines needed for wildland fire control and structure protection, normal construction traffic, and garbage trucks.

With the loss of several homes and buildings on the northwest side of Lake McDonald during the 2018 Howe Ridge Fire, park officials believe a bridge that can accommodate necessary traffic and loads across McDonald Creek to access the area is essential. Therefore, replacing the bridge is needed due to progressive failure and to improve vehicle access to private land and National Park Service (NPS) structures and operations on the northwest side of the lake.

THE EXISTING bridge would continue to be available for NPS and landowner access during construction. The construction area would be closed to public access for the duration of the work. Traffic delays would be minimized as much as possible, with 30 to 60-minute closures expected. Full closures, possibly for 2-3 days at a time, would be necessary at times for safety (such as during crane operations).

The construction area, extending approximately 100-feet from Going-to-the-Sun Road to Upper McDonald Creek Trailhead, would be closed to public access for the duration of construction.

The new bridge would be built approximately 30 feet upstream of the existing bridge, requiring a realignment of road approaches.

Site clearing would likely occur in late summer and early fall of 2022. Construction is anticipated to begin in spring of 2023 and mostly completed by the end of fall 2023.

Replacing the Upper McDonald Creek Bridge with a new bridge slightly offset from the existing location and alignment was approved under a categorical exclusion in May of 2021. However, the submitted construction work plan had greater than anticipated impacts on landowner access. The project has been redesigned to further shift the location of the new bridge to enable administrative and local access across the existing bridge during construction.

The park believes the redesigned project could still be categorically excluded and would not require the preparation of an environmental assessment. Public scoping is being conducted based on the redesign to determine if there is any other information or additional concerns the park is not aware of that might result in the need for an assessment.

Glacier National Park’s public scoping newsletter for the proposal to replace the Upper McDonald Creek Bridge and formalize parking at Upper McDonald Creek Trailhead is available for review and comment on the NPS Planning, Environment & Public Comment (PEPC) website. The scoping newsletter will be available for 14 days and comments are due Aug. 30, 2022.

THE UPPER McDonald Creek Bridge project is one of several planned bridge rehabilitation projects in the park. Glacier is looking to do work on 13 bridges in the next two years with funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through the Federal Lands Transportation Program.

The improvements to the bridges will include bridge deck and approach repairs, timber pile replacement and repairs, timber curb replacement, painting, concrete repair, stone masonry repairs, erosion control measures and more.

Construction began on two Inside North Fork Road bridges July 18.

The Fish Creek Bridge will have limited delays in traffic until it is fully closed to motorized, pedestrian, and bicycle access on Sept. 6, after Fish Creek Campground closes for the year.

The Appistoki Creek Bridge will have limited delays in traffic until it is fully closed to motorized, pedestrian and bicycle access on Sept. 26.

The North Fork Bridge, located on the north end of Camas Road, and the Lee Creek Bridge, located along Chief Mountain Highway, are also part of the rehabilitation project. That work will take place in 2022 or 2023. Construction at all bridges will conclude for the season no later than Nov. 14 this year.