MISSOULA (AP) - Missoula County is scaling back its plans to build new trails, parks and footbridges once Milltown Dam is removed after learning that it is only getting about half the federal money set aside for such projects.

The county originally thought it was to receive $5 million in a federal highway construction bill for the Milltown Superfund Site Redevelopment Working Group's plans for work around the reservoir once scheduled dam removal is complete. But language in the final legislation split the funds between Missoula and Deer Lodge counties.

"It put us in a bind," said Peter Nielsen, Missoula County's environmental health supervisor. "We've had to scale back on our projects."

The working group originally requested $14 million to build a pair of footbridges, construct a 21-mile trail system and do some other projects in the Milltown area.

It has since scaled back the trail system to about five or six miles, focusing on the areas around residential neighborhoods that may be affected most by increased traffic during the dam removal process.

"We're going to have kids walking to school or people walking to town with no sidewalks, no trails and no shoulders," Nielsen said. "It's not a good situation. There's going to be some increased truck traffic through that period."

The other focus will be on replacing the pedestrian bridge known as the Black Bridge across the Blackfoot River. The bridge serves as a connection between the communities stretched out along both sides of the Blackfoot River just upstream of the Milltown Dam.

The bridge is heavily used by children from the Milltown side of the river walking to the school in Bonner.

"There are hordes of kids going across the bridge every day," Nielsen said. "If it wasn't there, the Highway 200 bridge would be the only other option. It's already substandard for lane width. It's not a very safe bridge to walk across."

It's also one of five bridges spanning the Blackfoot River that will need some kind of work in anticipation of the dam at Milltown being removed.

All of the bridges were constructed after that portion of the river essentially became part of the Milltown reservoir. Once the dam is removed, the river will both drop dramatically and increase in velocity.

Engineers are working to develop ways to shore up abutments and piers to stabilize the bridges in anticipation of the dam coming out.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will pay the costs for the interstate and highway bridges. Atlantic Richfield Co. and Montana Rail Link will pay to shore up the railway bridge.

"The county is required to deal with its own bridge," Nielsen said.