Ruby River bridge public access case back in court
by Susan Dunlap, Montana Standard
“The legal battle over the public’s right to access the Ruby River from Seyler Lane in Madison County has entered its 12th year with a new hearing in District Judge Loren Tucker’s courtroom in Virginia City Monday.
While the Montana Supreme Court decided in 2014 the public has the right to use Seyler Lane, which runs through Atlanta media mogul James Cox Kennedy’s property, through prescriptive easement, what Tucker still has to rule on is how much shoulder the county needs to maintain and repair the bridge. The hearing will allow both sides to bring in new witnesses to the case.
Public Lands and Water Access, a nonprofit group, argues the county will need 60 feet of right-of-way to repair and maintain the bridge and needs to get down into the Ruby River. The county argues it needs two feet from the wingwall of the bridge. The wingwall is the angled, short wall on either side of a bridge.”
