Two Medicine River Bridge, Browning, Montana

SEGMENTS, WINTER 2011, VOL. 56

The US 2 – Two Medicine River (Fig. 20) project will replace the existing bridge over the Two Medicine River on US Highway 2 on a new alignment with approximately one mile of new roadway. The project is located less than one mile east of East Glacier on Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and approximately 12 miles west of Browning, Montana. The existing bridge, built in 1941, is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete.

The owner prepared and advertised two designs, a cast-in-place concrete box girder using form travelers competing with a steel truss. The structure consists of a 520 ft. main span, side spans of 350 ft. and 290 ft., and three approach spans of 120 ft. Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Company LLC was low bidder, choosing the concrete option. Superstructure construction will begin in April 2011 and the bridge is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2012.