BISMARCK, N.D. — A state judge in North Dakota has dismissed a permit appeal by the preservation group seeking to block demolition of BNSF Railway’s 140-year-old bridge over the Missouri River.
The Bismarck Tribune reports that South Central Judicial District Court Judge Jackson Lofgren on Friday dismissed on technical grounds the appeal by the Friends of the Rail Bridge. The group was seeking to overturn a decision by the state Department of Water Resources in April to grant BNSF the two permits needed to replace the Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge, parts of which date to 1882. One of the permits allows construction of the new bridge, and one is for demolition of the existing structure.
Lofgren said state law requires a party “aggrieved by an action or decision” of the Water Resources department to request a hearing from the department in 30 days. Only after that hearing can the decision be appealed to district court.
The department issued the permits in April; the Friends group took its appeal to court in May. The preservation group contends that its request in December 2022 for a hearing on the proposed permit fulfilled the hearing requirement, but Lofgren disagreed, and said that the court therefore “lacks subject matter jurisdiction.”
The Friends of the Rail Bridge and the group’s attorney did not immediately comment. BNSF said in a statement that it looks forward “to continuing work to build our new bridge so we can serve our customers in North Dakota and beyond.”
The Friends group has mounted a lengthy effort to preserve the existing bridge for use as a pedestrian and cycling route, and has previously indicate it might sue to save the bridge if all other efforts, such as the permit appeal, fail.
A BNSF representative said when the permits were issued that during the five years it has pursued permitting, the cost of the new bridge has reached $100 million, an increase of about $40 million [see “BNSF gets final regulatory approval …,” Trains News Wire, April 25, 2023].
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