Montana
Report says growing need for bridge improvements in Montana
LINCOLN — On Dalton Mountain Road, just outside Lincoln, a brand-new bridge opened to traffic just last month. The project to replace a decades-old timber bridge there was a big improvement – but according to a new report, it’s only a small part of a significant need for infrastructure upgrades across the state.
On Wednesday, at the Montana State Capitol, the Montana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers unveiled a “report card” on infrastructure in the state, grading on 14 categories ranging from roads and railways to dams, broadband and even public parks. Their report gave Montana’s bridges a “C-,” defined as “mediocre” and “requiring attention” – and down from a “C” in the last report card in 2018.
“I think we’ve all seen across Montana in this past year, we’ve had a lot of closures in areas that we haven’t seen previously – Missoula, Bigfork, Twin Bridges, several areas with those aging bridges have caused major issues and detours,” said Lexi Leffler, a civil engineer who chaired the committee that worked on the report card.
Jonathon Ambarian
According to the report, of more than 5,200 bridges across Montana, about 600 are either closed or have weight restrictions because of their condition – and that number has been increasing 10% to 20% year to year. For bridges owned by the state, only about 2% have closures or weight limits, but for those owned by counties, it’s closer to 20%.
The old Dalton Mountain Road Bridge, built in 1956, was one of those county-owned bridges. In 2017, several foundation piles on the bridge failed.
“When the supports went, it got old real quick,” said Bob O’Leary, who’s lived in the area for 32 years. He crosses the bridge to Lincoln most mornings to pick up his mail.
Emergency repairs on the old bridge were enough to keep it open – but only with one lane, and only for vehicles weighing up to eight tons. O’Leary says residents were concerned fire trucks and ambulances might not be able to cross.
Lewis and Clark County asked for help replacing the bridge, and the state eventually contributed money to the project through two grant programs. Leaders awarded a $3.9 million contract to Sletten Construction, and in July, the road closed down as crews began work on a new “pony truss” bridge over the Blackfoot River.
Jonathon Ambarian
During construction, drivers needed to take an 11-mile detour using Herrin Lake Road – and O’Leary got a very personal reminder of how important this connection is.
“It wasn’t an issue for me until August, when I had the heart attack and it took the ambulance 20 minutes to get over to the house instead of five minutes,” he said.
Leffler said, in a state as rural and spread-out as Montana, it’s not unusual for one bridge closure to have that kind of effect.
“There’s really a lot of ripple effects of that, even just down to small communities not being able to get their regular shipments to the grocery store,” she said.
The federal government identifies just over 350 bridges statewide as being in “poor” condition. The ACSE report card says about 900 Montana bridges require immediate repairs – around 15% of all the bridges in the state. It says federal and state governments have made investments – like 2023’s SAFER Act – but that the anticipated $535 million in funding over the next ten years would fall well short of the $4.4 billion in need.
“We hope this is a tool for citizens to learn more about infrastructure in our state, and we also hope that it’s a springboard for more discussions,” Leffler said.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 8, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 8 drawing
12-29-37-43-55, Powerball: 18, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from July 8 drawing
17-26-31-32-37, Star Ball: 01, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 8 drawing
03-13-16-17, Bonus: 10
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from July 8 drawing
06-27-33-44-69, Powerball: 23
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Montana Cash numbers from July 8 drawing
08-16-17-22-27
Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 8 drawing
16-18-43-48-50, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
HELENA, Mont — Gov. Greg Gianforte is backing a new effort to keep data centers from driving up Montanans’ power bills.
This week, Gianforte announced Montana is signing on to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge — an initiative endorsed by President Trump.
Several major technology companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and XAI first signed the pledge back in March.
The pledge comes as data center development continues to grow — raising questions about how much new energy will be needed and who will pay for it.
NBC Montana spoke with Julia Haggerty, professor of geography and department head of earth sciences at Montana State University, about whether Montana’s power grid is ready for that growth.
“Not without resolution of significant transmission bottlenecks and massive amounts of new generation. So, while our grid is adequately, relatively adequately equipped to serve the needs of our current load base, it’s definitely not equipped to accommodate the new demands without a lot of expansion,” she said.
According to the pledge, data center developers will pay for new power generation, and infrastructure needed to support their operations.
“It does align with ongoing regulatory efforts to ensure that the cost of new generation associated with data centers is borne by the developers of those data centers and not customers,” Haggerty said.
The governor’s office says Gianforte’s support of the pledge is designed to encourage responsible data center investments while protecting Montana ratepayers from long-term costs.
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