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[Peter]

Tram plans to East Ridge statue moving ahead

September 09, 2012 12:00 am • By Nick Gevock of The Montana Standard
A plan to build a tram to reach the Our Lady of the Rockies statue on the East Ridge is moving forward.

The latest plan calls for construction of a building and a tramway that would run roughly north alongside Interstate 15 to a building where passengers would board a second tram car. That would take them to the statue.

The main building would sit on land owned by the Our Lady of The Rockies Foundation, east of the Montana Chemical Dependency Center on Continental Drive, said Jim Lynch, president of the tram group. He said with careful planning, they’ve worked to make it fit into the area.

“It’s as far away from the neighborhood as we could put it,” Lynch said this week, while touring the site. “We also tried to get the building designed so it would blend in with the neighborhood — we didn’t want a big metal building with a flat roof.”

But some people who live in the neighborhood east of the Serbian Church have questioned the plan and whether it would be appropriate for a residential area. They’ve had issues with the proposed tram running in the vicinity of homes and backyards.

MAIN BUILDING

The plan, however, includes the main building on 40 acres owned by the tram group. It would house the Our Lady of the Rockies retail store, a theater for statue visitors, an events area and the loading area for the first tram.

That first tram would run roughly a quarter mile north, parallel to Interstate 15. It would end at another building, where patrons would unload to board a second tram, which would take them to the top of the ridge and to the 90-foot statue, at 8,510 feet elevation.

Randy Woolwine, vice president of sales for the Salt Lake City-based lift company Doppelmayr USA Inc., said the first tram would gain about 300 feet elevation. He said it would be similar to a tram the company built in Portland, Ore., and would not be a large intrusion.

“These things are quiet,” he told The Montana Standard in a telephone interview Friday.

From the second building, another tram would rise roughly 2,400 feet to the statue.

It would pass over Interstate 15 and have a span of about 8,000 feet. The cars would have capacity for 15 people.

Engineers are still working to determine whether the tram would require a tower in the middle of the span that would be in addition to towers at the bottom and top of the tram.

Lynch said the tram would run about nine months out of the year. It could be used by mountain bikers and cross country skiers in addition to people who want to sightsee and visit the statue.

He said its location and span over the interstate would be a plus.

“Having the tram go over the interstate will be the best advertising we could have,” he said.

OVER I-15

But passing over the interstate is also a challenge.

Woolwine said that adds to the cost of the project just to get the cable put up, but the company has done it before. Doppelmayr has built trams, ski lifts and public transit infrastructure all over the world, including the tram at Big Sky Resort.

He said the tram alone would cost about $6 million to build, although that’s an early estimate.

“It won’t be twice that much and it won’t be half that much,” he said.