State to seek Swamp Creek bids next year
By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter
The state in January will seek bids from contractors to improve the Swamp Creek section of U.S. Highway 2 south of Libby.
"Depending on weather, construction should start within a few months after that," said Charity Watt Levis, spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Transportation in Helena.
The project is expected to cost $5 million.
Other planned improvements for Highway 2 south of Libby Creek include an $11 million project in early 2009 and another $32 million project in 2010, Watt Levis said.
The state Department of Transportation has been working on various proposals for the section of highway since 1985. Indecision and funding priorities have delayed reconstruction.
The section of highway has a higher rate of accidents than any other highway in the state. Narrow bridges built in 1934 have crumbling road surfaces and concrete railings, no road shoulders, frequent frost heaves and potholes.
The news of the construction project pleases Libby's Steve Mahoney, who admits he remains somewhat pessimistic.
"It's long overdue," said Mahoney, whose wife, Marcia, continues to recuperate from a March 25 crash along the stretch of highway.
"How many are going to have to be injured or killed there?" said Mahoney, the retired manager for McDonald's in Libby.
Mahoney was driving 30 to 35 miles an hour when he lost control of the couple's four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle. The 2004 Ford Explorer slammed into a rock before landing on its side in Swamp Creek. Marcia Mahoney broke both her legs, her right hip, pelvis, left arm and shoulder, and a vertebrae in her neck. She underwent surgery for steel plates, pins, rods and 102 staples.
Hospitalized in the intensive care unit in Spokane for five days, she later spent five weeks at ManorCare rehabilitation center in Spokane before returning home on May 26. As of Friday, Marcia Mahoney said she was walking without a cane.
Montana Sen. Max Baucus last summer secured $6 million in funding for the project. Funding was earmarked in a national highway bill approved by Congress.
Portions of Highway 2 have not been repaired since 1939.
The funding Baucus secured will go towards roadway and bridge reconstruction for a 12-mile stretch of Highway 2, called Swamp Creek East, which is southeast of Libby from about milepost 45 to milepost 58.
A Baucus staff member said photos of the roadway, especially the four bridges, convinced the senator something needed to be done.
In February 2004, Libby officials and residents rode a bus to Helena and presented their concerns to the state highway commission.