MISSOULA — Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) officials made the call to close the Maclay Bridge in the Target Range neighborhood indefinitely last week.
MDT broke down a timeline for their bridge inspections which has been having recurring evaluations every two years.
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When an official visited the bridge last July, they did not identify any immediate dangers. However, MDT continued to analyze the bridge's data.
Engineers used algorithms to look at the strength of the bridge, seeing how much weight it could carry without breaking.
In January, they learned that the bridge's stringers — connection points — had deteriorated to a point where closure was necessary.
Now, they're trying to determine what's happening next.
"So, right now we're coordinating with Missoula County and what we're going to do is go in and do some additional analysis, have a consultant come in, do a little bit deeper look at the bridge, see if there's any repairs, temporary repairs, that we can perform on the structure to reopen it," MDT Chief Operating Officer Dwane Kailey detailed
Kailey shared he's unsure if a short-term solution is possible, "With a bridge this old, that's been posted this long, it's not likely to identify any easy, cheap repairs but we're going to do everything we can within reason to look at that."
He added that MDT does not have a timeline as to when they will be taking more looks at the bridge. We will keep you updated as we get more information.
