BISMARCK, N.D. — The preservation group seeking to block demolition of a 140-year-old BNSF Railway bridge has taken its effort to court.
The Bismarck Tribune reports that the group Friends of the Rail Bridge has filed an appeal with the state’s South Central District Court seeking to overturn a decision by the state Department of Water Resources granting permits for BNSF to replace the Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge, which crosses the Missouri River.
The department granted those permits — one allowing construction of a new bridge, and one for demolition of the existing structure — in April, ending a lengthy permitting process [see “BNSF gets final regulatory approval …,” Trains News Wire, April 25, 2023].
The appeal argues that the water resources board issued the permits without approval from the North Dakota State Historic Board and without adequately considering potential effects of the project. The Friends group also continues to contend there are questions regarding ownership of the bridge that were not considered. The group argues the bridge is actually owned by the state, although the state’s attorney general has said otherwise and various agencies have accepted BNSF’s ownership [see “North Dakota Attorney General indicates BNSF owns Bismarck bridge,” News Wire, March 6, 2023].
BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth told the newspaper the railroad is “dismayed by the appeal of such an important private infrastructure project benefiting North Dakota’s major industries and the nation’s supply chain.”
The Friends group wants the bridge, portions of which date to 1882, preserved for pedestrian and biking traffic, a project estimated in 2019 to cost $7 million. No funding has been secured for that project.
The bridge’s age means rail traffic is subject to a 25-mph slow order. BNSF began the permitting process for replacement five years ago; when it received the permits from the water resources board, it said the cost of the new bridge had risen from $60 million to about $100 million during that time.
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