The Flathead National Forest announced that construction operations will begin this week to replace an existing timber bridge structure crossing the Swan River on Forest Service Road #966 known as Piper Creek Road.  The Piper Creek Road Swan River Bridge Replacement Project is located in Section 8 of T22N, R17W on the Swan Lake Ranger District. The contractor, Price Contracting, Inc. from Stevensville, will spend the next four months on site building the Replacement Bridge over the Swan River.

 The new bridge will replace the old one at the same current location.  A temporary traffic detour bridge will be constructed immediately upstream.  The work/detour bridge is needed so crews can dismantle the existing bridge and provide an open traffic route for the public around the construction.

 The project will replace the existing structure with a 162-foot single span concrete structure.  A feature of the single span structure will be the elimination of debris collecting on mid-stream piles as is the case with the existing bridge and open the river channel to its full width providing better flow characteristics and meet the Forest Service Region One stream simulation criteria.

 The new bridge will sit approximately five feet higher than the current structure increasing the clearance space between the bottom of the bridge and the river’s 100-year discharge interval and allow better passing of floating debris.  The foundation for the new structure will be driven steel piles with concrete caps.  The new bridge will have a 14-foot wide travel surface, the same as the existing bridge.  Pullouts will be constructed on the approaches on each side of the bridge to accommodate the single-lane bridge travel and it will have galvanized steel bridge railings and asphalt paved approaches. When the new permanent bridge is complete and accommodating traffic, the work bridge will be completely removed and the site will be appropriately graded, seeded, and mulched.

 For additional information about the project contact the Flathead National Forest Civil Engineer, Patrick Siers at 758-5347.