BISMARCK — A group looking to save a historic railroad bridge over the Missouri River is mulling its legal options in an ongoing quest to keep the span from being torn down.
The Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge, built in 1883, is targeted for demolition as BNSF Railway seeks permitting from the U.S. Coast Guard to construct a new bridge.
The nonprofit Friends of the Rail Bridge group is asking for an administrative hearing on a sovereign lands permit from the North Dakota Department of Water Resources, which it says would provide opportunity for public comment on a number of significant issues.
Attorney Lyle Witham said issues that need addressing include ownership of the riverbed beneath the historic bridge and the bridge itself, and whether a sovereign lands permit should be issued to tear down the bridge and build a new one.
The group maintains it’s not necessary to tear down the historic bridge in order for BNSF to build a new one. They say the historic bridge should be repurposed into a biking and walking trail.
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Bismarck and Mandan have numerous trails adjacent to the Missouri River, which could connect to a pedestrian pathway on the repurposed bridge, making it a recreational staple for the communities for generations to come, the group said.
Mark Zimmerman, Friends of the Rail Bridge president, said preserving and repurposing the bridge would elevate existing assets in the community.
“This transformation will go beyond recreation and tourism, including fostering civic pride, increasing historical awareness, and stimulating economic development along the river. Some of our greatest attractions in the area are the historic sites within the view of this great bridge,” Zimmerman said, in a news release.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation lists the Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge as one of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places.
It was crossed in the early years by notables including former presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as Sitting Bull.
Margie Zalk Enerson, a Friends of the Rail Bridge board member, said if the bridge hadn’t been built, Roosevelt might never have set foot in North Dakota.
“We want all these millions of visitors to come, but the historic bridge that brought him across, this same bridge, is going to be torn down unless we stop it,” she said.
More information about efforts to preserve and repurpose the historic Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge is available at www.friendsoftherailbridge.org.
The Trust Project
