New Bridge near Bowdoin

Work on the removal of the old bridge crossing the Dodson South Irrigation Canal on Old Highway 2 east of Malta is in the books and work on the replacement bridge is proceeding smoothly and looks to be complete by its February target date.

"It's going along about as well as winter work does," said David Drga, Project Engineer from Century Construction who is the quality control manager on the Phillips County project.

Drga said the old bridge was completely removed as of early December and any materials not salvaged by the County (salvaged items including timbers and deck) were hauled off to the dump. He said that the steel caps and girders have been set in place for the new bridge and the construction crews continue to firm-up and place the reinforcements and the last bits of concrete to be poured for the structure's foundation.

This project is located approximately one mile east of Malta on Old Highway 2 going toward the Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters. The project is a reclamation of 3.66 miles of Old Highway 2 using a variety of methods, including separation-stabilization geotextile, cement treated subgrade and aggregate courses and asphalt concrete pavement. An additional 2.46 miles of the section will be resurfaced utilizing pavement preservation techniques including sealing the display pond path at the Refuge. The total project length is 6.12 miles.

Drga said the bridge construction is on target to be completed by the the end of February -- but that finish date is completely weather-dependent.

"We have had some really nice weather and gotten a lot done, but it's starting to get cold again and it might stay that way for a while," Drga said. "If the weather treats us nice, we will be on track for that finish date."

Drga said that in order for concrete to cure correctly, there are minimum temperatures that must be maintained. He said when the concrete is placed, the mixture cannot be below 50-degrees. Drga said Malta Ready Mix has been using hot water when making the concrete as well as keeping the materials indoors to keep them warm before work.

"Then we have to get it out to the site and in place and covered over with a blanket and heated," he said.

All told, Drga admitted that the weather has mostly been favorable and the crew has only missed a few days of work because of extremely cold temperatures. Sletten Construction Companies, out of Great Falls, are the subcontractors working with Century Construction (out of Lewistown) on the project.

Next up in the project will be pouring the bridges back walls and wing wall.