On Tuesday, Montana Governor Steve Bullock, Montana Department of Transportation Director Mike Tooley and other officials gathered to expedite repairs on the Madison Street Bridge.

Missoula District Administrator Ed Toavs told KGVO News that the meeting was vital due to safety issues with the sidewalks lining the bridge.

"About three weeks ago we noticed some significant deterioration in the sidewalk on the south end of the Madison Street Bridge with some concrete delaminating or 'spalling' out," Toavs said. "This meeting was to get the message out to the public that the Department of Transportation has prioritized a project that had originally been scheduled for 2020 to rehabilitate the bridge. We're going to take the old deck off in two phases and cast in place a brand new deck. and also do some repair work on the substructure underneath the bridge deck."

Toavs said the work will actually start this summer as soon as plans are approved for the bridge.

"The start date for the design/build for the project will be June 16, 2016 and then we hope shortly thereafter they'll set the stage for construction later on this summer," Toavs said. "We hope to have construction completed by late 2017."

Toavs said two other projects have been bumped back to allow for the Madison Street Bridge project to become a priority.

"The bridge itself is perfectly safe to drive on," he said.

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