The historic Carbella Bridge stood since the 1900s. That was until it was washed away by floodwaters from the Yellowstone River. But now there are plans in the works to rebuild it.
“The whole thing snapped off and rolled down the river while I was standing right there,” said Matt Wittman, the public works director for park county.
He saw it with his own eyes as Carbella Bridge, built in 1918, washed away.
“Now it makes it more difficult for residents to get into the Tom Minor Basin and Rock Creek area,” said Wittman. “They’ve got about a five-mile detour.”
Remnants of the bridge are currently being cleaned up by Park County crews.
“So it won’t present a danger to boaters and recreationalists starting in the spring,” said Wittman.
This is just one of the many boxes they’re checking off as they get ready to install a new bridge in Carbella’s place. A $4.5-to-$5 million replacement.
“Park County does have to spend the money first, and then FEMA will reimburse us for the amount we spend,” said Wittman.
Park County released a full outline and timeframe of when construction will begin.
“We’re looking at 2 years for full replacement from the time it was washed out,” said Wittman.
He says over half of that time will be spent on the engineering and manufacturing of the bridge.
“Our engineering team is currently working on the design of the full bridge, and we’ll be going out for bid on the structure in the next 2 weeks,” said Wittman.
Clint Tinsley, a Park County commissioner says he’s excited to see the bridge as it’s one more step towards repairing what was lost during the Yellowstone flooding.
‘It’s pretty impressive what we’ve got done and what we’re doing with the staff we have compared to the emergency we had,” said Tinsley.
To look at the complete bridge construction outline, you can visit the Park County Facebook page.
