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| PA Category |
State |
| Section 106 |
MT |
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| PA Title |
| Programmatic Agreement Among the Federal Highway Administration, the Montana Department of Transportation, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Montana State Historic Preservation Office Regarding Historic Roads and Bridges Affected by Montana Department of Transportation Undertakings in Montana |
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| PA Overview |
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The PA streamlines the Section 106 process while providing ways for managing and protecting the state’s historic transportation system. It includes provisions to designate and preserve to the extent possible historic road segments; recognize historic road and bridge facilities significant to the state’s history and rehabilitate and preserve historic bridges significant to the development of the engineering science in Montana. The PA makes provisions to find alternate sites for historic bridges through the Adopt-A-Bridge Program and also has provisions for developing education programs, publications, and workshops/seminars to discuss relevant historic roads and bridges issues with professionals, including engineers, historians, and historic preservationists. The PA includes a provision for the preparation of a biennial report that provides a stipulation-by-stipulation accounting of the implementation of the agreement that will be provided to the signatories for review and comment. |
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| Signatories |
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP)
Montana State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)
Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) |
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| Date of Original PA |
Date of Latest PA |
Expiration Date |
| 1989 |
02/01/2007 |
None |
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| Renewal Provisions/Process |
| Since there is no expiration date for the PA, it remains in effect until terminated. The PA has provisions in place for monitoring, amending and terminating the agreement. |
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| Geographic Coverage Display |
| Statewide |
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| Applicability |
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The PA applies to all undertakings involving historic roads and bridges in Montana.
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| Key Attributes |
The PA establishes the Montana Historic Highway Program, the Montana Adopt-A Bridge Program, and the Montana Historic Bridge Rehabilitation Program and education and outreach programs for historic roads and bridges.
The Montana Historic Highway Program is for roads built after 1859 under the jurisdiction of the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT). Under this PA, the MDT Environmental Services Bureau, in consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), will compile a list of a minimum of 12 historic road segments that are especially significant for their historic associations and/or engineering and associated features for inclusion in the Montana Historic Highway Program. For the historic road segments included in the program, MDT will seek, whenever prudent and feasible, to preserve or incorporate into the design of all proposed undertakings as many of the historic features associated with the designated roadway as is possible based on current American Association of State Highway and Transportation (AASHTO) standards. MDT will incorporate preservation and context sensitive design early in the planning process.
The intent of the Montana Adopt-A-Bridge Program initiated under this PA is to find new locations, uses and/or owners for certain historic bridges that are NRHP-eligible and have been designated for replacement or demolition because rehabilitation and preservation in place are not feasible. This program encompasses all historic truss and steel girder bridges with a structural rating of three or above. Bridges deemed suitable for the program will be advertised for adoption. As part of the program, MDT will offer potential owners the demolition cost of the bridge as an incentive to adopt it.
The Montana Historic Bridge Rehabilitation Program applies to a select group of NRHP-eligible or potentially eligible state-administered on-system bridges and county or city-maintained off-system bridges. All bridges included in the program are programmed in initial planning by MDT as bridge rehabilitation projects rather than bridge replacement projects. In the event that, at the time of an undertaking, MDOT and the SHPO agree that a bridge in the program cannot be rehabilitated, another NRHP-eligible bridge will be selected to replace it in the program within six months of the mutual determination. Once a bridge in the program has been successfully rehabilitated, another NRHP-eligible bridge must be added to the program to replace it within six months of the completion of the rehabilitation. Within 1½ years of the completed rehabilitation, MDT will nominate the bridge to the NRHP and provide an interpretive sign describing the history and significance of the bridge along with details that acknowledge the rehabilitation project.
As part of its education and outreach outlined under this PA, MDT will
• develop, deploy and maintain a statewide bridge database in consultation with the Montana SHPO and the Montana State Library's Natural Resources Information System (NRIS) program;
• revise and expand its 1993 unpublished document Roads to Romance: The Origins and Development of the Road and Trail System in Montana;
• sponsor an historic bridge workshop or seminar in 2008 and again at least once every five years;
• encourage and support the attendance of appropriate MDT employees at regional and national forums dealing with the preservation of historic roads and bridges;
• develop a History of Montana Department of Transportation presentation and make it available to the public and interested agencies and organizations; and
• develop and distribute a Compilation of Montana Historical Highway Maps to appropriate schools and agencies.
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| Resulting Conservation |
| Conservation/preservation of historic roads and bridges. |
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| Comments on Development/Use of PA |
Montana was among the first states to develop a PA that dealt with historic roads and bridges. Over the years, that PA, while useful for its time, eventually was replaced by a second PA and an historic preservation plan in 1997. When it became obvious that that PA was not working effectively, the MDT and the Montana SHPO worked together to develop this PA, implemented on February 1, 2007. This PA incorporates many stipulations and provisions from the 1989 and 1997 agreements, and seeks to be more realistic in terms of expectations and products generated. The climate of the MDT has also changed in the intervening decade. For example, the Historic Bridge Rehabilitation Program is expected to be implemented whereas in the past, no effective effort was made to protect the bridges included in it. The MDT, moreover, is used to treating historic roads and bridges programmatically as it has been doing so for nearly 20 years. The existing PA is fully implemented and incorporated into the MDT’s programs.
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| Estimated # of Projects Served or Processed Under
Agreement (per year) |
| Up to 100 projects are processed each year under this agreement. |
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| Contacts |
Jon Axline (Primary Contact)
Montana Department of Transportation
MDT/Environmental Services
Historian
406-444-6258
jaxline@mt.gov
Steve Platt (Secondary contact)
Montana Department of Transportation
MDT/Environmental Services
Archaeologist
(406) 444-0455
splatt@mt.gov
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