Great Guest Editorial

The Tribune doesn't put guest editorials online. But sometimes one appears that is so good, I have to reprint it. And, as much as my poor, typing fingers hate it, there's only one way to do that:

The Tribune recently carried a front-page story telling us that the restoration costs for the old Tenth Street Bridge are now estimated at $3 million.

That is more than three times the original estimate given by Lee Ebeling, structural engineer on June 22, 1995. His estimate was $715,000.00.

I realize that 10 years has passed since Mr. Ebeling's estimate, but surely inflation and some alterations in the plan should not add more than $2 million to the projected cost of $715,000.00.

Where on earth will this additional $2 million come from? The contract between the City of Great Falls and Preservation Cascade, signed in March 1998, states that Preservation Cascade agrees to raise $300,000 over a period of three years. This, when added to the $400,000 from the Department of Transportation funds turned over to the City of Great Falls when the bridge demolition contract was canceled, would be just about sufficient to cover the estimated $715,000 restoration costs.

In addition to the direct costs in restoring this old bridge, there have been other costs associated with this project:

• $212,500 to Shumaker Trucking and Excavating, paid by the Department of Transportation due to cancellation of their demolition contract.
• $14,025 to fund a study by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks to design a route under or around the north end of the old Tenth Street Bridge for the River's Edge Trail.

Also, a story in the Tribune on May 6, 1999, states that Recreation Trails was searching for $150,000 to $170,000 to finance construction of the River's Edge Trail at the north end of the old bridge, a very difficult and complicated portion of that trail.

Other news stories regarding the old bridge indicate that $100,000 was borrowed from the National Trust for Historic Preservation (12-4-96) and that this loan will have to be repaid, with interest.

In January 1998, our city commission voted to accept ownership of the Tenth Street Bridge, in spite of objections from many Great Falls taxpayers. In March of that year, an agreement was signed with the City of Great Falls and Preservation Cascade (the bridge savers) outlining their responsibilities.

Now we learn the awful truth -- that the $300,000 that Preservation Cascade has agreed to raise falls far short of the more than $2 million needed to finish repairs to the old bridge.

I would like some answers from our city commissioners, two of whom were members of the city commission and voted in favor of accepting ownership of this old bridge in the name of the City of Great Falls.

For starters: Who is responsible for raising the additional $2 million?

One suggestion: If a name is needed for the bridge, how about "The Primrose Path"? It is down just such a path that the bridge savers led our city commission.

This is an interesting topic. You might want to go back in time and read the minutes of the January 1998 meeting where the matter was decided. On the commission at that time were Mayor Gray, Commissioner Rosenbaum, and Commissioner Beecher. Only Commissioner Beecher voted against accepting ownership of the bridge.

I am not going to put on my retrospectoscope and hack on Gray and Rosenbaum. People can make mistakes in good faith. I do think, though, that the public deserves some accountability on the issue from the present Commission and, more particularly, Preservation Cascade. The article in today's Tribune carried a photograph of the decaying bridge. Something needs to be done, or will need to be done. This thing is just sitting there. What are the plans? The author of today's piece, Shirley Jacobsen (who, by the way, spoke against the 'deal' at the 1998 meeting) has a point: Where's the money coming from?