County officials are contemplating the future of the Armington Bridge project as its been beset by delays and complications.

During an April 29 meeting, county officials reviewed the history of the project and its current status with Brady Lassila of TD&H Engineering, the county’s consultant.

The county received $750,000 from the Montana Coal Endowment Program in May 2021 for construction of a replacement bridge.

The Armington Bridge near Belt has “been a source of significant flood damage and challenges to the residents of Cascade County and the motoring public, so because of this, the county and TD&H worked together to find a funding resource to help with the cost to replace this bridge,” according to county public works.

The county contracted TD&H for design.

County extends funding agreement for slow moving Armington Bridge replacement project [2025]

Lassila said that it took about a year to finalize an agreement with BSNF for work to begin and more permitting was required to access railroad property for geotechnical work.

TD&H submitted the 30 percent designs to the county and BSNF in November 2023.

Lassila said it took 14 months to receive minor comments back from BSNF, which informed the county it needed a permanent easement for the bridge and road since one didn’t exist.

County staff and the TD&H team searched and couldn’t find a record of an easement, Lassila said.

In May 2025, commissioners approved TD&H proceeding with the easement work and they submitted paperwork in August 2025.

Despite monthly pings, BNSF didn’t respond for eight months, Lassila said, until Commissioner Jim Larson contacted a BNSF official about the matter.

Lassila said they’ve since learned that the person working on the easement from the BNSF side no longer worked there and there’d been miscommunication since BNSF can’t do anything about the easement until full designs are submitted.

Larson said the “railroad seems to be interested now.”

Armington Bridge to close for replacement design process [2023]

Lassila said that TD&H had paused work on the plans while awaiting resolution on the easement but has since resumed work and are now about 75 percent complete.

He said their impression had been that BNSF needed to approve the easement first, so they didn’t want to waste time and the county’s money working on plans if the easement was denied.

TD&H expects to complete the plans this summer for submittal to BNSF.

Lassila said that in their experience, BNSF’s final review and construction agreement can take about 12 months, pushing construction of the new bridge to next summer or fall.

Les Payne, county public works director, said there’s unknowns since BNSF could deny the easement and construction costs will be higher than when the county started on the project in 2019.

The county originally budgeted $2.2 million, of which construction was $1.7 million, in 2020.

With inflation, Payne said they now estimated construction costs at $2.5 million.

Commissioner Joe Briggs said, “we have a fundamental problem. We have a bridge we don’t have an easement for” and can’t get an easement “without being blackmailed by BNSF” for final designs. “Unfortunately, you’ve uncovered a terrible problem.”

County awards design contract for Armington Bridge replacement [2021]

Briggs said he didn’t want to move forward without a guarantee from BNSF on the easement since the project was over budget and the county would have to grant itself a floodplain waiver to build it.

The easement is a “whole new wrinkle,” he said.

Larson said the issue needs to be addressed since it’s the only route into the Town of Belt without going the whole way around.

Briggs said there’s no guarantee that BNSF will grant the easement on a bridge that already exists.

Larson said he hoped the railroad would play ball, though they usually don’t, and that they should take into consideration the bridge already exists.

Briggs said it reminded him of an instance in which the county had to purchase an easement from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for its own road.

Lassila said he hadn’t seen a situation of a bridge in place without an easement, but that TD&H was working with the Montana Department of Transportation on the River’s Edge Trail reroute near the Electric City Water Park and the railroad has caused delays on an easement.

Larson said the Armington Bridge needed to be replaced since during high waters and floods, debris gets caught under the bridge and employees have to take railings off and reach over with heavy equipment to clear it.

There’s a “possibility of somebody dying,” Larson said, though high water hadn’t been an issue in a while, if we have the money, “that bridge needs to be changed or somebody could get killed.”

County pursuing grant for Armington Bridge repair [2020]

Payne said that during his tenure, they had one bad year on the bridge, which restricticted traffic across, but the worst was before his time.

The county performs preventive maintenance and crews were at Armington Bridge about two weeks ago clearing out debris, Payne said.

The county contracted with TD&H for $485,000, of which $200,000 has been spent so far. Lassila said he believed the design budget was $250,000.

Briggs said that initially, the state funding would have paid about a third of the project cost, but now would only cover about a quarter.

Lassila said the cost of procuring an 80-foot easement for the land and current bridge was estimated at $15,000.

Payne told commissioners that at this point, he recommended continuing with design and reevaluating once that’s completed, since the county needs an easement for the existing bridge regardless of whether it’s replaced.

County staff said they were reviewing the issue with the County Attorney’s Office if a prescriptive easement was an option, since the bridge has been in place for at least 50 years.

“The whole thing irritates me,” Briggs said, and wanted to look at the project “extremely hard” before proceeding with construction.

Commissioner Eric Hinebauch said he’d never been a fan of the project.

Payne said the existing Armington Bridge is structurally sufficient and is inspected every two years.

Lassila said the preliminary engineering report found the bridge to have adequate structural strength, and the flooding issue was the project’s driving issue.

The existing bridge had five piers in the channel, about 25 feet apart, with six spans, Lassia said.

If a bigger log gets jammed, like in 2011, it divert water to the creek and through the area, flooding the Armington area, Lassila and Payne said.

The proposed replacement is a three-span bridge with piers 60 feet apart, so logs can pass through without creating a jam.

In April 2025, commissioners voted 2-1 to extend its funding contract with the state for the Armington project.

In April 2022, the county signed a contract with the Montana Department of Commerce, securing the funding through Dec. 31, 2025.

Due to unforeseen circumstances with BNSF, the county hadn’t been able to obtain all the necessary permits to move forward with the project, putting the project several years behind, Payne said in April 2025.

Payne submitted a letter to the state on March 18, 2025 requesting an extension of the funding agreement that the state approved through March 31, 2028.

The county agreed to move forward with purchasing the easement in March 2025, but “due to the lengthy BNSF review, the project has slipped behind the implementation schedule. Also note, BNSF will require another review at the 100 percent plans. That review may take just as long,” Payne wrote in his March 2025 letter.

During their April 2025 meeting, Briggs said that the project is giving him “heartburn” due to the uncooperative neighboring property owner and “dollar creep.”

He said that at this point he still wanted to move forward since the “safety factors overrule the cost, but count me as an unhappy camper.”

Payne said tariffs and inflation are unknowns and costs could continue to rise, but so far, “the cost went up significantly because of BNSF,” and he anticipates another $500,000 in county costs to get the project out to bid.

In April 2025, Payne said the county’s next step was to purchase the easement, then his office will solicit for construction bids. Once they have bids, county officials will have a better idea of costs compared to available resources and make a decision on whether to move forward.

Hinebauch said at the time he was “uncomfortable” with the project since he thinks costs will continue to increase and voted against the funding contract extension.

Larson said that the bridge is usable, but the debris that catches on the bridge supports would be eliminated in a new bridge design.

Payne said that traffic on the bridge has about doubled from the 2014 count and it’s in good structural condition but would need rails replaced eventually, if not fully replaced.

Larson said that truck traffic uses the Armington Bridge as the height clearances off the other bridges into Belt are too low for some trucks.