JACKSON HOLE, WYO – Cattleman’s Bridge over the raging Gros Ventre River is buckling even worse today.
The temporary structure was hopefully going to last for a year until a permanent bridge could be constructed. It didn’t make it six months. After opening in December 2017, the single-lane bridge has been buckling of late and today looks like it may be a goner
The new permanent bridge was scheduled to be completed by October 2018. That target date is now questionable.
Reiman Corp. out of Cheyenne is doing the job. That firm won the contract last fall with a low bid of $3.8M.
For now, the popular cutoff route to the airport and points north that allowed traffic to avoid downtown will be unusable. That may prove to be a significant loss given construction work taking place at the roundabout at the Gros Ventre intersection and work around the new Hidden Hollow neighborhood on the north end of town.
The Gros Ventre is not at an all-time high but it’s not far off. Last spring broke and set many records for runoff. The high CFS (cubic feet per second) for 2017 as measured at Kelly was triggered midday on June 8 at 5,470 cfs. Currently, the river is running right around 4,000 cfs; not matching last spring but still far above the 20-year median average for this time of year.
The Gros Ventre has already washed away some of Crystal Creek Campground and is once again hammering the banks along the road to Kelly.
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