Toston Bridge Still Closed, Locals Frustrated
 | Author:
Nancy Marks
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Toston people are growing impatient over the continued closure of their beloved century-old steel truss bridge across the Missouri River. Meanwhile, Broadwater County commissioners appear in no great hurry to get it reopened.
The first thing the commissioners want to know is who owns the bridge, the county or the state. As commission chair Darrel Folkvord said last week, “It is still unclear who actually owns the bridge. Until our acting county attorney has time to research the records, we cannot take any action toward opening the bridge, or repairing it.” Unless or until the old single-lane bridge is reopened, everybody will have to get along with the nearby spanking-new four-lane State Highway 287 bridge. But many local people think the heavy high-speed traffic there makes it dangerous to exit Toston or get back onto the highway.
Folkvord explained at the September 6 county commission meeting, that debris from June high water was hanging up on the two concrete support piers, so the county road department contacted the Montana Department of Transportation about the bridge safety. About that time, three months ago, MDT closed the bridge. In a report issued a year ago, dated January 12, 2021, MDT recommended that the county repair river scouring that had taken place under one of the piers. It also called for the county to monitor conditions at the bridge during the high flow months of May and June and remove any debris from the piers. The report also said MDT inspections should be continued on a regular cycle of once every two years. It is unclear whether the report had anything to do with the closure.
Toston rural resident, Hal Plummer, spoke at the commission’s September 6 meeting and public hearing about the bridge closure. He pointed out difficulties for people traveling daily to the Toston post office and the garbage dump from the west side of the river and for ranchers traveling back and forth. “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 too well, coming from Townsend,” he said.
Toston Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 20, 2005, as a good example of the “Warren truss” riveted steel structure, durable and inexpensive to build.
Broadwater County commissioners awarded the construction contract to the Billings-based Security Bridge Company in July 1919. The bridge was completed in 1920, according to the National Register sign installed at the bridge. The bridge became a close part of the community. Farmers and ranchers moved their haying and heavy equipment across it. Motorists traveling between Helena and Bozeman crossed it until the highway department built an overpass in l955. The old bridge has been used by local traffic ever since. Little maintenance was done except for the replacement of the wood-plank decking. At some time, asphalt blacktop was applied to mend holes between planks.
In the years after the first overpass was built, Broadwater County commissioners contracted to sell the old bridge to Fergus County for $17,000, according to Plummer. His father, James Plummer, filed a lawsuit to stop the sale. County Attorney Frank Hooks opposed it, but the injunction was granted by the judge, according to an article in The Townsend Star. Folkvord speculated that repair of the bridge’s deck and piers might qualify for grant money if a grant could be researched. “The state might designate the bridge as a pedestrian crossing,” he said.
A petition asking Broadwater County Commission to repair and maintain the bridge has been circulating, according to former County Commissioner Franklin Slifka. His ranch operation is one of those impacted by the closure. “Everybody here is in favor of fixing the bridge. Since we received no satisfaction from the state about reopening the bridge, we decided to get the community behind the project,” he said.
Slifka, who lives within 1,000 feet of the new overpass, said he noticed the new bridge contractor used the old bridge to move heavy equipment, trucks and loaders. When necessary, they used it as a detour for traffic as well, he said. “Nobody worried about how safe the bridge was then,” he said.
