Commissioner lobbies for Swamp Creek work
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
June 18, 2009
With reconstruction of a dilapidated section of Highway 2 at Swamp Creek south of Libby off the Montana Department of Transportation’s to-do list for at least four years, Lincoln County Commissioner Tony Berget is making himself a squeaky wheel in hope of getting some grease for the project.
Berget has written letters to MDT director Jim Lynch, lobbied the state Transportation Commission at a recent meeting in Helena, is enlisting the support of U.S. Sen. Max Baucus’ office, and is working on a petition to send to Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s office.
"My plan is to sit up at Rosauers someday gathering signatures," Berget said.
Plans to rebuild Highway 2 at Swamp Creek have been in the works since at least the mid-1980s and have been complicated by the difficulty of engineering a roadway on marshy ground butting up against rocky hillsides. Originally designed as a single project between mile markers 45 and 57, the proposal was later broken into three sections, one of which was rebuilt in 2007 with the help of $6 million in special funding procured by Baucus. The remaining eight miles won’t be rebuilt until after 2013, according to the most recent news from the Department of Transportation.
What irks Berget is that more than 50 miles of Highway 93 have been rebuilt in recent years and that Swamp Creek hasn’t been bumped up the list despite the allocation of $211 million of federal stimulus funds for work on Montana’s highways.
"We don’t mind waiting for our fair share, but when does that come?" Berget said.
Berget traveled with a busload of Libby-area residents to Helena in 2003 to make the case for funding the Swamp Creek project. Since then, "All I’ve ever gotten from the Highway Department is lip service," he said. "It’s just excuses why not."
Judging by the reaction from the Transportation Commission at its meeting last month, not much has changed, Berget said.
"I didn’t feel like I got anywhere," he said. "I feel like I have no recourse."
Berget said he plans to continue writing letters, attending meetings and gathering support until he gets some satisfaction.
"All I want is an answer," he said. "When are they going to do it? Why do they continue to put it off?"
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Editor’s Note: See the June 16, 2009 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, now on Tuesday, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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