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A bridge over milky water complete

Pedestrian bridge set over Milk River

If you haven't noticed. A 183,000 pound, 240-foot-long pedestrian bridge now resides in Phillips County.

As many around Phillips County were in a phase of deep sleep, about 100 citizens of Malta and surrounding towns stayed up around midnight on Wednesday, August 15, to watch two rather large cranes, capable of hoisting 275 tons, placed the long-awaited walking bridge across the Milk River alongside Highway 2 in Malta. Traffic was shut down on the Highway 2 car bridge from 10 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. The construction and placement was taken on by Battle Ridge Construction, Bishop Excavating, and Malta Ready Mix. The Montana Department of Transportation was also present.

The bridge that arrived in five sections was put together as one whole piece by the parking lot of Milk River Realty in less than two days.

The bridge was a project spearheaded by Malta Trails who submitted a request to the Transportation Alternative Program in 2013. The project received funding in January of 2014, according to Laura Pankratz of Malta Trails. The 1.22 million dollar project bid was given to Battle Ridge Builders.

"A lot of people walked to work at Westside and the bridge (car bridge) was pretty dangerous," Pankratz said.

She explained that there was no safe way to cross the bridge and pedestrians and bikers were forced to meet up with traffic while trying to get from one side of the Milk River to the next.

"We also talked in our committee how the Edgewater Motel customers wanted to come across but a lot of them don't because the families are scared, " Pankratz said. "So that bridge was just too tight for both autos and pedestrians."

Malta's bridge was constructed similarly to a pedestrian bridge in Highwood, Mont. So in the beginning phases of the project, the Malta Trails committee used the already established bridge to come up with a price for the grant application.

"We had got an estimate from Ed Spahler who had put in a bridge by Highwood Bridge," Pankratz said. "we got an estimate from him because it was pretty much an identical bridge (to what Malta Trails wanted at the time)."

During the time that Malta Trails wrote their application for the bridge, there were 40 applicants and only a few were chosen, including Malta trails.

"We were really fortunate to be one of the projects that was picked out," Pankratz said.

 

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