Toston Bridge One Step Closer To Tear Down (MDOT calls for public comment on Removal Proposal)
Author: Nancy Marks, MT43 News Reporter
MT43 News Staff Reporter
Montana Department of Transportation is asking for public comment about their proposal to remove the historic Toston Bridge. Broadwater County Commissioners signed a memorandum of understanding for MDOT to demolish the historic site at its May 23, 2024 meeting.
The Toston Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places July 20, 2005, according to MDOT historian Jon Axline’s plaque installed near the bridge. It was completed in 1920 by Billings-based Security Bridge Company paid for through a $30,000 county bond issue, according to an article in the Townsend Star.
The bridge became a focal point for the people of Toston. They traveled across it with their tractors to farm their fields on the west side of the river. Young couples met and courted on the bridge. Old ladies fished from its piers with long bamboo poles and Toston’s boys caught a few hours dream fishing in the early mornings before school started. In late years Mary Norris and Norma Norsby collected funds to put up lights on the bridge’s girders at Christmas time. That tradition continues to this day.
Removal of the bridge has long been a bone of contention between Toston residents and government officials. One of the questions was who owned the bridge. County Commissioners said no documents existed showing county ownership, even though the county floated a bond issue to build the bridge. The state did not own it either. Therefore, no county or state funds would be available to repair it.
In 1955 the state built another bridge and railroad overpass just north of the Toston Bridge, making a bypass highway section through Toston. The little town of Toston was almost forgotten but townspeople have a long history loving their bridge.
Jim Plummer first brought a successful injunction against Broadwater County in 1955 when the commissioners tried to sell the bridge as salvage for $17,000 after the overpass was built, according to former Commissioner Franklin Slifka, Toston native. The bridge received little repair through the years until 1971 when the county replaced the wood decking. Later public works department covered the decking with asphalt and later did some repair of the pavement according to Slifka.
It wasn’t until the state, now MDOT, built a newer, safer bridge and railroad overpass in 2022 for traffic to travel safer and faster. Many accidents on the original overpass had resulted in accidents and deaths.
In a surprise move MDOT closed the old Toston Bridge to all vehicle and pedestrian travel in June, 2022. An official inspection showed the bridge was too dangerous to use, even though contractors who built the new overpass had used it for hauling heavy equipment and for a traffic detour, according to Slifka. It was then that Tostonians got up their dander and formed a group of 300 petitioners to ask for it to be reopened for local use.
In a December 2022 commission meeting, Barb DeMartin, Franklin Slifka, Bill Lane and Hal Plummer spoke to the need to open the bridge to local traffic. DeMartin, who had organized the petition, pointed out that opening the bridge was a necessity, not a convenience. In the meeting, Plummer pointed out that locals needed to come to the post office and transfer their equipment back and forth as well as residents on the west side of the river who need to go to the garbage dump. He and Bill Lane spoke of the new approach as very dangerous. “The alternative approach to Highway 287 from Toston is dangerous to enter when traffic is going 70 miles an hour, and the approach is not marked very well, coming from Townsend,” Plummer said.
MDOT bridge inspection manager John Jackson described the condition of the bridge as dangerous because of fatigue and corrosion in the steel trusses and guard rails. He pointed out the support piers had been corroded for over a century by river scouring and were in danger of collapsing
A year later in a commission meeting, statewide preconstruction engineer Ryan Dahlke reiterated the need to tear down the bridge. He speculated it would cost more the $10 million to repair the bridge for use. He said everything about the bridge’s condition made repair not an option. But Toston residents were not convinced.
In a December 16, 2023 meeting at the Bunkhouse Bar Commissioner Darrel Folkvord made a power point presentation to convince the group the bridge was not safe for vehicle traffic. He suggested the group form a nonprofit organization to apply for grants to repair the bridge for pedestrian traffic.
Still the Toston group persisted in trying to save their beloved bridge. Enter Beryl Byers Newman, born and raised in Toston, a life-long resident and expert research person who worked for the state Department of Administration. Newly retired, she began the arduous process of researching grant monies, bridge repair contractors and rules for destruction of National Historic Register sites.
Much to the group’s dismay, Newman learned that if a bridge is in complete disrepair with no chance of saving it, the site can be destroyed. It is not protected by its National Register status.
After reaching out to several Mid-West bridge repair contractors, she finally received a bid from J.F. Brennan Company of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The bid came back at $17 million and did not include repairing the steel trusses, only the two piers.
The final twist of the knife in the hearts of the group was that bridge-loving non-profit organizations had no interest in funding projects without guarantee that the bridge could be saved.
At its wit’s end, the tightknit Toston group will face a last-ditch effort to salvage at least the memory of the beautiful bridge. Newman said in talks with MDOT historian Jon Axline, he would encourage MDOT and the group to install a memorial plaque where the road dead ends into the bridge. The plaque would have a photo of the bridge on it.
MDOT’s is asking for comments on the proposal to remove the bridge, tentatively set for 2026 depending on whether money and design plans become available for the project. For those who wish to comment please submit to mdt.mt.gov/contact/comment-form.aspx. Written comments may be sent to MDOT, Butte Office, P.O. Box 3068, Butte, MT 59702-3068. Brandon Jones, Butte District Preconstruction Engineer may be reached at (406) 494-9622.
Article Images
Click on Image Thumbnail(s) to view fullsize image
PhotoCredit: Nancy Marks, MT43News Photographer
Image 2 photo provided by Byrl Newman
Image 1 Caption: Toston Bridge with barricades to eliminate all traffic. Photo taken from east side of the structure.
Nancy Marks, MT43News Photographer
Image 2 Caption: Volunteer crews scaling the bridge trusses to attach Christmas lights.
Photo Provided by Byrl Newman
Image 3 Caption: Men tore down the original bridge after the 1920 Warren Truss bridge was built.
Photo Provided
