The fate of the historic Liberty Memorial Bridge between Bismarck and Mandan will heat up as a topic of conversation again next month, as the state Department of Transportation holds another public meeting regarding the 80-year-old span.

The purpose of the meeting, for which a date has not been set, is twofold, said Francis Ziegler, director of project development for NDDOT, on Monday.

* To present options and costs for rehabilitation of the old bridge and get public reaction.

* To present options for "alignments" for a new bridge and get reaction.

A second meeting, a month or two later, would present style options for a new bridge, "if the (new-bridge) option has a lot of interest," Ziegler said.

In March, NDDOT dropped the bombshell that the 2,548-foot bridge, which dates from 1922, needs extensive - and expensive - work, replacement or a combination of the two.

Two meetings in April revealed public sentiment for and against keeping Memorial, and for and against disturbing existing property for a new bridge. The strongest sentiment of all - from business people along Memorial Highway on either side - was against interruption of service.

That would seem to argue for a new bridge, maybe in conjunction with repairing the old one, maybe not.

In March, the state bridge engineer, Terry Udland, told the Metropolitan Planning Organization that traffic could perhaps be maintained on Memorial with the trusses jacked up - but bring lots of money.

The other scenarios are to leave Memorial alone while building a new two- or four-lane bridge alongside it. Afterwards, Memorial would either be repaired for use in conjunction with the two-lane or abandoned in favor of the four-lane.

In the end, NDDOT will be looking at three considerations, Ziegler said Monday: what the public wants, cost and the best buy. The last is probably most important.

"Our responsibility is to make sure we have a long-term river crossing," Ziegler said. "If we rehab, we have to make sure it makes sense. We have to look at the life-cycle costs for (all) options."

The bucks are big in any case:

* $15 million to $25 million to repair Memorial. The wide range is because nobody yet knows the extent of the wear and tear, which will be addressed by a study to be delivered next spring. Maintaining traffic during the work would cost extra.

* $20 million to $30 million for a replacement four-lane bridge. The minutes of the March MPO meeting says Udland "noted that a $20-million bridge would get the cities a 'plain Jane' bridge, whereas a $30-million bridge would give the cities a signature bridge and something to be proud of."

* $35 to $45 million to build a new two-lane bridge and repair Memorial.

The 10 percent local share - Washington paying 80 percent, the state 10 - makes the price tag of more than academic interest. The local requirement took Bismarck and Mandan officials by surprise, since the state owns the bridge and the cities traditionally have not paid anything for projects on such bridges.

NDDOT claims that changes to federal highway policy in 1992 make cities responsible for a share of work on bridges that belong to the urban regional system - in this case, Interstate Business 94. This will be the subject of further discussions between city officials and NDDOT.

The project - whatever it turns out to be - is scheduled for bidding in November 2005 for construction in 2006 and 2007.