A second public meeting on the alternative routes for crossing the Little Missouri River in the Badlands north of Medora will be held tonight in Bismarck.

The public can view plans and make or bring comments at 5 p.m. at the Best Western Doublewood Inn, 1400 E. Interchange Ave.

The Billings County Commission has hired KLJ Engineers to conduct an environmental assessment for the road project, which will ultimately need approval by the Federal Highway Administration.

The process so far has identified three alternate routes for crossing the river, using either a low-water crossing appropriate to two sites, or a bridge, which is appropriate for all three.

The costs for the road work and crossing structure range from $1.5 million to $7.5 million, with the lowest number assigned to a low-water crossing, which would be overtopped by water in the spring and during heavy rains.

Billings County has tried over the years to find a suitable location for the crossing, which it says is needed to improve transportation in that part of the county for local ranches, fire protection and the oil industry.

Otherwise, the only bridges across the Little Missouri River are separated by 70 miles.

The project also is intended to provide an east-west cross-county link between highways 85 and 16 and could be in contruction in 2011.

Here is some information about the three alternate crossing locations.

The Elkhorn Ranch National Park Service site is on the lower west side of the detail map. The Elkhorn Ranchlands on the east side are what is generally known as the Eberts ranch, purchased last year by the U.S. Forest Service for historical preservation.

Alternate B (in gold) - This one begins on Blacktail Road on the west side of the river and connects to Blacktail Road on the east side. It requires 10 miles of road construction, with about five of those miles through the newly acquired Eberts ranch.

This crossing would be about 2.5 river miles north of Theodore Roosevelt National Park's Elkhorn Ranch site. Either a low-water crossing or a bridge is considered suitable structures to span the river for this alternate.

Alternate C (yellow) - This crossing begins at the intersection of Bell Lake Road and Beaver Creek Road on the west side and connects to Blacktail Road on the east side of the river. It requires eight miles of road work and the only structure option considered here is a bridge. Some 2.5 miles of road would travel through the newly acquired Eberts ranch and the crossing would be about one river mile north of the national park's Elkhorn ranch.

Alternate D (in green) - This crossing also begins at Bell Lake and Beaver Creek roads on the west, but goes south to cross the Little Missouri River and connect to East River Road on the other side. This alternative requires seven miles of road work leading to either a low-water crossing or a bridge. This option is south of the Eberts ranch, which was recently acquired by the U.S. Forest Service for public use, and is about two air miles and three river miles from the Elkhorn ranch.

KLJ says it expects to release a draft Environmental Impact Statement in 2009 and if a final EIS is approved, construction could start in 2011.

In the meantime, the company is doing field work and will then analyze the environmental and social impacts, which will be disclosed in the EIS.