Crews to begin $27 million project on Beartooth Highway in late May

Posted 4/14/20

An interagency team of state and federal agencies will soon begin rebuilding a nearly 1-mile segment of the Beartooth Highway.

The collaborative effort on U.S. Highway 212 will allow the …

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Crews to begin $27 million project on Beartooth Highway in late May

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An interagency team of state and federal agencies will soon begin rebuilding a nearly 1-mile segment of the Beartooth Highway.

The collaborative effort on U.S. Highway 212 will allow the completion of the 420-foot, three-span Beartooth Ravine steel girder bridge, 20-foot-high mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls and roadwork and landscaping.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation said work is expected to begin the third or fourth week of May. The challenging project is located in a “very remote location” and in “unforgiving terrain,” said WYDOT spokesman Cody Beers. It’s located about 14.5 miles east of U.S. 212’s intersection with Wyo. Highway 296 (the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway).

Crews under the supervision of Missouri River Contractors out of Helena, Montana, plan to work six days a week (with Sundays off) — including working around the clock Mondays through Thursdays. Beers said the road will be closed to travel overnight (from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.) on weeknights with delays of up to 30 minutes during the day and on Fridays and Saturdays. There will be no work over holidays.

The $27 million project is being completed with a variety of federal funding sources

“It’s a great success story in the making,” said Wyoming Transportation Commissioner Phil Schmidt of Casper. “This ‘grab bag’ of varied funding sources sponsored by WYDOT and a variety of agencies and the significant work completed to date showcases incredible effort and commitment of everyone involved to keep this highway in working order.”

The interagency team includes representatives from Yellowstone National Park, the Montana and Wyoming departments of transportation, as well as other federal government partners, citizens and non-government groups.

Moving this U.S. 212 project to the construction phase wasn’t simple, WYDOT said in a news release last week. WYDOT received a $16.6 million TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant to reconstruct the 1.6-mile segment and bridge. But when bids were opened last May, the low bid for the total project totaled $31.2 million, far beyond the $15.9 million left after design was completed.

By only building the bridge portion of the project, which includes construction, construction engineering and contingencies, the total price of the project was adjusted to $27 million — $11.1 million below the adjusted bid. The low bidder on the project — Missouri River Contractors — agreed to honor the bid through mid-December 2019 if additional funds could be committed to building the new Beartooth Ravine bridge.

Project partners went to work, and $9.3 million was appropriated from WYDOT federal funds. Remaining highway funding came from closed-out federal lands projects, which Yellowstone Park matched with $1 million of its funds.

“The goal of this project is to keep U.S. 212, the Beartooth Highway, in acceptable condition so that it can continue to provide connectivity between the Northeast Entrance to Yellowstone National Park and the communities of Silver Gate, Cooke City, and Red Lodge, Montana, and Cody, Wyoming, via Wyoming Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Highway,” Schmidt said.

This phase of reconstruction includes 0.7 miles of roadway, starting just west of the Clay Butte Lookout turnoff.

WYDOT Chief Engineer Shelby Carlson said construction of Beartooth Ravine bridge will lessen or eliminate dangerous curves, widen the highway across the bridge by adding shoulders and allow grizzly bears and large ungulates, including elk and moose, to cross underneath the structure.

The construction season is set to run from Memorial Day weekend to Oct. 15, with work on the project due to be completed by no later than Sept. 9, 2021

WYDOT is part of the Beartooth Steering Committee, which also includes the Montana Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Yellowstone National Park, U.S. Forest Service, Wyoming and Montana Congressional staff, and other federal, state, and local officials, tourism and community development organizations, and several nongovernmental organizations. This group has been working together to address the needs of the Beartooth Highway for nearly 25 years.

Reconstruction of the seven segments of the Beartooth Highway began in the 1970s. Segment 4, where this project is located, lies entirely within the boundaries of Wyoming, though nobody claims ownership of the highway. A $13.8 million project to rebuild the route between mileposts 28.4 to 31.5 was recently completed.

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