Construction work on a mile-long stretch of U.S. 2 west of Kalispell in on track to wrap up in early December, although bad weather could thwart the final tasks.

“It’s all weather permitting,” said Bob Vosen, the Missoula District construction engineer with the Montana Department of Transportation. “We could get a monster blizzard that could crush everything.”

General contractor LHC began work on the $5.2 million rebuild earlier this year. The project includes two bridge replacements over Ashley Creek that are a half-mile apart.

Both bridge decks are poured, Vosen said, and are in a 30-day curing process.

At the bridge closest to Kalispell, guardrail installation is planned for the first week of December, and it should open to traffic on Dec. 8, Vosen said.

Concrete rails for the second bridge are scheduled to be poured Dec. 5.

“We’ll groove and seal the deck and pour the barrier rail, all the first week in December,” he said. Guardrail work will be done starting Dec. 8, with the second bridge targeted for a Dec. 15 opening.

All of the road paving for the project has been done. Additional striping will be done as weather allows.

The entire project is about three weeks behind schedule, Vosen said.

Tamietti Construction of Great Falls, the subcontractor handling the bridge replacements, will complete the bridge work next summer. Vosen said that while the new bridges will be open to traffic, they’re actually only halfway completed and will be much wider when fully finished.

Other area construction projects also are winding down as winter approaches.

Some finishing touches remain to be done on Three Mile Drive near Kalispell where a bridge has been built over the future route of the U.S. 93 bypass.

“The paving is done, but we still need to do delineation and signing the first part of next week,” Vosen said. “We still have some striping to do, and we’ll do it as weather permits. Otherwise we’re out of there for the winter.”

The Three Mile Drive bridge — a $5 million project that included rebuilding a half-mile of the road — will be chip-sealed next spring. The bypass will connect to that bridge with a full interchange when the bypass is built through the area in a future phase of construction.

In Evergreen, a $3.6 million storm-water drainage project is “pretty well wrapped up for winter,” Vosen said.

“We have one or two medians with blankets on them to protect the concrete. The blankets should come off on Friday,” he said. “We’ll still need to chip-seal next spring.”

The project included the installation of new storm-water drains, along with new curbs, sidewalks, median concrete and asphalt pavement. The upgrades were made to eliminate Evergreen’s chronic puddling problem during heavy precipitation and snow melt.

The deep puddles, generally the worst in front of the McDonald’s restaurant, have been known for years as “Lake McDonald.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.