2023-11-17 11:06:52
The battle over the Northern Pacific bridge over the Missouri River at Bismarck, N.D., was back in front of the North Dakota Supreme Court on Thursday, Nov. 16. Northern Pacific
BISMARCK, N.D. — The fight over the future of BNSF Railway’s Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge over the Missouri River was back in front of the North Dakota Supreme Court on Thursday, as the court heard arguments on a preservation group’s effort to overturn state permits allowing construction of a new bridge to proceed.
The group Friends of the Rail Bridge is seeking to prevent demolition of the current bridge, which has piers dating to 1882, in an effort to preserve the bridge as a walking and biking path across the river. BNSF has received federal and state permission to build a new bridge next to the existing structure — which has long had speed restrictions because of its age — and then tear the old one down.
The Bismarck Tribune reports that in Thursday’s hearing, the preservation group argued that the state Department of Water Resources did not follow the law in issuing the two “sovereign land” permits needed by BNSF for work within the boundaries of the river. One permit covers construction of the new bridge; the other is for demolition of the old bridge.
The Friends group argued that the state agency did not get necessary approval from the State Historical Board before issuing the permits, because State Historical Society directors have termed the bridge a historical resource. That need for approval, however, appears to rest on the Friends group’s argument that the state, not the railroad, owns the bridge (an argument it makes here). North Dakota’s Attorney General has previously said the State Historical Board did not have the authority to prevent demolition of the bridge because it is privately owned.
BNSF and the state, meanwhile, claim the issue is whether the preservation group’s previous effort to challenge the permits was properly dismissed by a lower court.
District Judge Jackson Lofgren dismissed the Friends’ appeal of the permits on technical grounds in June, saying that the matter could be brought to court only after a hearing by the Department of Water Resources on its decision. [see “Judge dismisses preservation group’s appeal …,” Trains News Wire, June 24, 2023]. The Friends group contends that public meetings prior to the issuance of the permits met that requirement, but Lofgren said that, because they were before, not after, the decision to issue the permits, no required hearing had been held.
The court will rule at a later date.
This was the second state Supreme Court hearing on the bridge case; it had earlier turned down a bid from the Friends group to have the court assert “original jurisdiction” and rule on its argument regarding state ownership, as well as the permit question [see “North Dakota Supreme Court denies …,” News Wire, Sept. 18, 2023].
BNSF has begun work on the new bridge, which it expects to be complete in 2026. The railroad has seen the cost of the project rise from $60 million to $100 million during the five years it took to complete the permitting process.
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