Iowa Highway Commission blueprints from 1926 show plans for a bridge at North 4th Avenue East across Elk Creek.
A tiny, nearly-century-old bridge on the east side of Newton has no firm replacement plans despite being closed for years.
The Newton Daily News reports that the North 4th Avenue East bridge is stuck in two different limbos: Jurisdiction is split between the city and county, and replacement is subject to both Iowa DOT and Iowa DNR approval. To meet environmental standards, the replacement needs to be twice as long, which will significantly increase costs.
The bridge was built in 1926 in conjunction with paving of US 32 across much of Jasper County. It remained part of the cross-state route until a new alignment of US 6 was built in the 1950s, and was open through at least fall 2011. There is a string of houses east of the bridge that have to take a detour to head west.