Just cross that bridge when you come to it

When you live in a city with rivers running through it, you’re bound to have bridges to cross.

Great Falls was scheduled to receive an additional bridge on the south edge of town if a South Arterial bypass had been built. But as cost estimates soared and people griped, a state Department of Transportation computer decided the bridge would be located best if it were rammed through a new residential development on the east bank of the Missouri River.

That didn’t sit too well with the people who lived there, and eventually the plan was scrapped.

Here’s the bottom line: Don’t expect another bridge to be built here anytime soon.

“There is not another bridge in our 20-year plan,” said Dave Hand, district administrator for the Montana Department of Transportation in Great Falls. “It’s not even on our radar.”

So, for now, Great Falls area residents will pretty much need to enjoy the bridges we have.

The Electric City has four major bridges over the Missouri River, but there has always been some confusion over what they are called.

A poor, forlorn and older structure, the 15th Street North Bridge, doesn’t have a formal, flowery name as the others do. But if anyone has any great ideas for naming the 15th Street Bridge after someone, there would be nothing stopping them from contacting the city of Great Falls or the state Department of Transportation with their ideas.

So what about the other bridges?

The newest bridge in the city is named the Eagle Falls Memorial Bridge, although most people know it as the 9th Street North Bridge near the Calumet oil refinery. That doesn’t mean there was a fellow named Eagle Falls who died and got a bridge named for him. Instead, Black Eagle Falls is nearby, and the memorial part was tossed in there as a tribute to, well, it’s hard to remember to whom. It’s a bit of a mixed message there, actually.

Farther up river is the second-most controversial bridge in the city, which the Tribune in its longstanding style calls the 1st Avenue North Bridge. This bridge connects to 1st Avenue North on the east end and to Central Avenue West on the west end, so people call it different things. I got phone calls a few years ago from a woman annoyed that the Tribune was calling the bridge the 1st Avenue North Bridge, apparently miffed that denizens of the West Side once again were getting short shrift from those snobs on the east side of the river. She’d prefer it be called the Central Avenue West Bridge.

In any case, the official name of the bridge is the George Shanley Bridge, named for a noted Great Falls architect who designed bridges and major buildings in Great Falls, including the Ursuline Academy and the Great Falls Civic Center.

Go up the Missouri River a bit farther, one finds the Warden Bridge that lines up straight with 10th Avenue South. O.S. Warden was a past publisher of the Great Falls Tribune who also served on the state Highway Commission and who pushed for a new bridge. Built after World War II, the bridge helped spur development of 10th Avenue South, now a retail juggernaut. For years, the bridge was only two lanes wide, but when President Ronald Reagan visited Great Falls in 1982, he announced an additional two lanes of the Warden Bridge would be built, allowing four-way traffic. The old two lanes of the Warden Bridge remain pretty narrow, but they seem to work.

One other major bridge in Great Falls is the 6th Street Southwest Bridge just east of the Fox Farm Road and 10th Avenue South intersection. Actually, 10th Avenue South east of that location is called Country Club Boulevard. The 6th Street Southwest Bridge doesn’t have a flowery name, by the way.

Now let’s get to the most controversial bridge in the city, one that is no longer used as a bridge for traffic. That’s the 1920-vintage 10th Street North Bridge, a historic structure with eight concrete arches that was the last big project championed by Paris Gibson, the city’s founder, before he died.

Restoration of the bridge’s arches is complete; backers say they hope to have the bridge open for full recreational use by the structure’s centennial in 2020. The bridge is lighted in blue on Friday, Saturday and other nights; the group Preservation Cascade pays the power bill. The nonprofit organization has raised and spent more than $1 million on the project. Providing access to the bridge on its south end remains the project’s biggest challenge.

The reason the bridge is controversial is it’s taken a long time to renovate; it has received some state grants; and, well, people need to have something to complain about, right?

One project planned for the 10th Street Bridge in the coming months is to add electrical outlets along the structure, according to Arlyne Reichert, treasurer of the nonprofit group. A bigger project, expected to cost $70,000 or more, will be to chip-seal the bridge’s asphalt surface to get it ready for foot and bicycle traffic. She said the group is seeking grants for the deck project.

Before the project is finished, bridge backers will need to add fencing and gain access on the south end. River’s Edge Trail already connects to the bridge on the north end. Once access on the south end is gained, bicyclists, runners, walkers and others will be able to cross over the Missouri River on the old bridge.

We don’t have many ways to cross the Sun and Missouri rivers in Great Falls, and swimming across isn’t a safe option. So let’s enjoy the bridges we’ve got.

Coming next week: A look at Great Falls’ most famous comedian.

Richard Ecke writes a weekly column on city life. Reach him at 406-791-1465, recke@greatfallstribune.com, or @GFTrib_REcke on Twitter.