NOXON — In Noxon, the bridge is the only easy path between the town, its future and the rest of Montana. But, the historic bridge is in desperate need of repair. Residents, however, are not giving up on the fight for funding for the project.
“We need the government to step up and give us some money,” Noxon Rural Fire Department chief Jim Byler said. “We need a bridge. Because, without that bridge, we don’t have what's left of our town.”
The historic bridge is the only direct connection out of Noxon, leading from town over the Clark Fork to Highway 200. The town is still recovering. In 2024, a fire burned town three local businesses, including the only bar and market. A few months later, the bridge was shut down due to structural damage.
While the bridge soon reopened, Byler told MTN it continues to hang over the town, in more ways than one.
“The only other thing we could do is take a back road that way, and most of that is on state or federal land, so it's not maintained. Then, going that way, you still got a 45 minute drive,” Byler said. “I keep bringing it up, is we need to have a backup plan if it does close. What can we do temporarily get across the bridge?”
A major inspection found that the bridge is in dire need of repair. It will be inspected once a year until funding is raised for the repairs.
“They figured the life of the bridge is five years. So, in the meantime, we're just patching,” Byler said.
Earlier this summer, Byler noticed major holes in the bridge deck were getting worse. The deck is worn and there is high risk for a wheel punching through. He worked to raise attention to the issue on social media, culminating in Sanders County putting patches over the holes.
“It's real bad. I stuck my arm down in some of the holes to get some social media going,” he said. “What if one of my buses drop in there? Well, a vehicle's not gonna drop to the river, but it's wheels can drop through that deck. I said ‘OK, if that happens and a child on a bus bounces off the road or off the window or something, gets hurt, are you paying for it?’”
The patches are just a temporary fix, inspectors found that the bridge needs a major overhaul.
“For 30 million, they want a new one and there's no funding,” Byler said. “We don't need this big fancy two lane bridge. That bridge is sufficient. Take care of it.”
Byler appreciates the work from the County and other leaders, but said there is a lot more to be done. The County cannot cover the entire cost of a new bridge, and needs help from federal funding. In the meantime, he hopes the community will help take care of the bridge.
“There's 200 to 300 people that would be without a job if something happens to the bridge,” he said. “It's not the out-of-towners. You sit down here and look, they are our license plates. Give the bridge room. Slow down. It's 10 mile an hour. You don't have to do 40 across it. Just give everybody a break. This is our community. It's not just yours, it's ours.”
To prevent more damage, Byler asked that people drive slow, space out cars and keep heavy loads off the bridge.
“The guys that inspected said them trucks empty shouldn’t be on this bridge,” he said. “I'm just hoping people will respect the bridge, and I think the Commissioners and the state should stop truck traffic.”
Until the bridge is fixed, Noxon’s only direct connection and its future remain at risk, even as the town tries to rebuild after the fire.
“If you hurt that bridge, then we all have a problem. Especially this school. You know, that's all we really have left, is a school and a hardware. That's pretty much it,” Byler said. “Maybe, if we fix our bridge, we can get a town back.”
