[S]omething surprising is happening to Iowa’s transportation system. It’s actually getting smaller as state and county agencies quietly give up on maintaining many rural roads and bridges to spend on bigger, more essential projects in busier areas. …
Rural communities complain that they are being shortchanged in favor of cities.
During the last five years, Warren County has permanently closed 20 bridges over small streams, with more likely to come. Current budgets can’t possibly pay to maintain every road or bridge built over the last six decades, according to transportation officials.
What’s happening is exactly what I said the DOT director meant in his statement about a shrinking road system.