MBA UPDATE

Dear Maclay Bridge Alliance Members, Tempus fugits, and it has been a year since our last status update. No, We didn’t catch Covid-19 and we are still alive, but our wait for actual news regarding either South Avenue Bridge or Maclay Bridge produced very little, even under the Freedom of Information Act. Nevertheless we are […]
November 20, 2018

Missoula County Commissioner’s Meeting Notes Commissioners present: Dave Strohmaeir, Cola Rowley, Jean Curtiss PW Present: Erik Dickson MBA Representatives: P. Morrison, S. Sterbis, A. Rupkalvis, R. Schweitzer & others CSC Representatives: D. St.Peter, Christen Anderson, D. Schmidt & others South Avenue Bridge Report This was the ninth item on the agenda, but BCC moved through the […]
October 3, 2018

Maclay Bridge Alliance is still working to keep the historic bridge. MBA was granted “Consultant” status under the Section 106 Review Process for historical bridges by Federal Highway Administration. This occurred after Maclay Bridge was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As a consultant, MBA will receive a copy of the environmental […]
August 9, 2018

Maclay Bridge Alliance has not gone away. We are still working to keep the historic Maclay Bridge. Nevertheless there has been reduction in reported engineering progress for South Avenue Bridge pending fulfillment of several requests by Federal Highway Administration regarding the Categorical Exclusion. February 2017 marked the submittal of a draft Environmental Report and a request for […]
December 6, 2017

Status of Maclay Bridge: Missoula County and Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) are apparently pressing forward with their pursuit of a Categorical Exclusion (CE) for design and construction of the South Avenue Bridge. Funding for construction has been obligated for 2022. The most current information we have is that the estimated cost has risen to about […]
November 15, 2017

Status of Maclay Bridge: Last January, Missoula County and HDR Engineers (HDR) submitted environmental documents with a request for concurrence for a Categorical Exclusion (from National Environmental Policy Act) for design and construction of the South Avenue Bridge. The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) subsequently reviewed those documents. Seventy-eight comments […]
September 24, 2017

Status of Maclay Bridge continues to slowly evolve. As we reported in July, Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) were conducting a review of environmental documents submitted by Missoula County for approval of a Categorical Exclusion (CE) for South Avenue Bridge. That review has been completed and we have received a copy […]
July 15, 2017 (Updated: 7-31-17)

Our last update delivered several months ago, reported on the status of Maclay Bridge and its proposed replacement, South Avenue Bridge. Though the preliminary engineering and environmental reports were due last November, the final documents were not submitted to Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and Federal Highway Administration until January 9, 2017. (As you may […]
May 25, 2017

Design of the South Avenue Bridge to replace Maclay Bridge has progressed to the point of agency review. What was anticipated as a fast moving stream of information and events leading to a Categorical Exclusion (CE) to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has seemingly bogged down. The CE would declare “No significant impact” by […]
April 15, 2017

It seems our expectation of major decisions has been waylaid. The county has said they are moving forward with the Categorical Exclusion (CE) on South Avenue Bridge, but the last report from them was that Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had completed their review of the environmental document and sent it back to Montana Department of […]