A few weeks ago, we got another round of stories about Iowa’s high number of “structurally deficient” bridges. This occurs regularly; I made a post five years ago about the bridge list then and their replacement timetables. As a reminder, “structurally deficient” does not mean “unsafe.”
A substantial percentage of Iowa’s less-good bridges are on gravel or even dirt roads, and many of those have an average annual daily traffic count at or under a few hundred. (Not in the latter group: Tama’s Lincoln Highway bridge, which is both poor and structurally deficient and is going to get $200,000 worth of work.)
I also wonder how many of the bridges called out in the National Bridge Inventory aren’t being used as bridges anymore. In Tama County, for example, the 360th Street bridge over the Iowa River west of Chelsea was closed in 2017. It shows up on the Iowa DOT’s “story map” of bridges as being in poor condition, structurally deficient, and closed. Also closed are every bridge on E Avenue northeast of Montour (which, for a short time in the 1950s, was IA 135 [II]) and two bridges in the city of Montour — one of which, on Elm Street, has clearly been abandoned for a long time. Those closures should eliminate six “structurally deficient” bridges from the inventory — right?
On the Iowa DOT’s “story map”, I have found 26 of the 34 state-maintained bridges listed in “poor” condition, and five of the six mentioned as being on the interstate system in the WHO story. The others either are in an area with a lot of bridges that I couldn’t spot without super-close zoom, or have just been replaced. I then cross-checked that list against the five-year plans.
- Of the 26 bridges I was able to locate, I could not find replacement plans for eight. They include the Centennial Bridge (not going anywhere), two inside state parks, and E41 over US 65 in Colo, which was considered for removal a few years ago but saved due to its historic importance. Two bridges over I-80 in Scott County are also in this set, and I don’t know if those are counted as “on” the system or not.
- Four are being replaced right now, and the I-280 bridge over the Mississippi River is being rehabbed.
- Four will be replaced in FY 2022, including both I-80 bridges over IA 146. A fifth, on US 30 in Benton County, will be taken out in the four-lane project. A sixth, US 65 near Clio, has a “culvert repair” note but I’m mostly sure this is what’s being referred to.
- Four will be replaced in FY 2023, including US 18/52 at Froelich that is original to the 1967 straightening of the road in this area.
- Three will be replaced in FY 2024-26, including the Black Hawk Bridge in Lansing, which I just talked about, and IA 141 over I-29, which just had its (first?) public meeting in April.
Progress is being made to whittle down the list of bridges in need of assistance, so to speak, but the overall numbers in Iowa are going to remain high unless and until there’s an infusion of road fund money on the county level.