116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Iowa Department of Transportation working to improve state bridge ratings
Iowa still has the highest number of bridges classified as poor, but most of those are under counties’ jurisdiction
Jul. 20, 2025 5:30 am, Updated: Jul. 21, 2025 8:37 am
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Iowa outpaces all other states with the highest number of bridges classified as being in poor condition, but the Iowa Department of Transportation’s work over the past 15 years to decrease the number of poor-rated bridges has led to big improvements for state-owned bridges.
In 2009, the Iowa DOT operated 237 bridges that were rated poor after inspection, as opposed to fair or good. In 2024, there were only 23.
“We’ve really made an emphasis on stewardship, and so taking care of the bridges that we have, versus capacity improvement,” said Jim Nelson, director of the Bridges and Structures Bureau of the Iowa DOT. “And there still are capacity improvements going on, but we’ve done just more and more stewardship with the funds that we’ve received.”
The “poor” bridge rating is not indicative of bridge safety — any bridges deemed unsafe by an inspection would be immediately closed or restricted — but rather is a way of keeping track of which bridges have signs of deterioration or damage, Nelson said.
Improving the quality of Iowa’s poor bridges has involved both replacement of bridges and consistent maintenance. Nelson said the DOT does somewhere between 40 and 60 bridge deck overlays each year.
Funding for bridge work in Iowa comes from a combination of state and federal dollars. The Iowa DOT has received a boost in federal money for the past few years through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The act was passed in 2021 and provided funding from 2022 to 2026. Nelson said the federal funds have increased the Iowa Bridges and Structures Bureau’s budget by about 30 percent.
This fiscal year, which began July 1, the Iowa DOT has about $200 million budgeted for work on state-owned bridges.
“The big question on our horizon is, what will reauthorization look like, and will it maintain funding at the current levels, or will it increase funding?” Nelson said.
The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is working to pass a bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization before the end of the current congress session, according to the committee’s website.
Most Iowa bridges are owned by counties
Iowa’s poor overall bridge rating compared to other states is partially due to the state’s large secondary road system, which means there are a lot of smaller, low-traffic bridges scattered throughout Iowa that don’t always get prioritized in county and city budgets, Nelson said.
The 23 poor-rated bridges operated by the state are only a small fraction of the poor-rated bridges in Iowa. In fact, there are more poor-rated bridges under the jurisdiction of Iowa counties — 4,306 — than there are total bridges under the DOT’s jurisdiction — 4,205. In total, Iowa counties maintain 18,225 bridges in Iowa. Another 1,254 are under city jurisdiction, 209 of which are rated poor, according to Iowa’s most recent annual bridge report, from 2024.
“We have sort of an interesting scenario in Iowa where we have a really extensive secondary road system, and that’s to get those farm products to the market,” Nelson said. “(The counties) just have a tremendous number of bridges, and the funding has not necessarily been adequate for the counties to keep up with the demand of the deterioration and damage on the bridges, so that’s the struggle. A lot of those bridges see tremendously low traffic volume, so it’s really a matter of putting our resources where the traffic is.”
In Linn County, there are 16 poor-rated bridges and all 16 are scheduled to be replaced by 2030, according to the 2024 county bridge report.
“In addition to bridge replacements, we are also planning bridge rehabilitation projects which include deck patching, deck overlays, and substructure repairs. The rehab projects will prevent fair bridges from becoming classified as poor,” the report states.
A total of 22 of the county’s 256 bridges are scheduled to be replaced, and six are scheduled to undergo rehabilitation as part of the county’s next five year plan, from 2026 to 2030.
Linn County also has routine maintenance projects scheduled, like applying linseed oil to concrete bridge decks, minor deck patching, guardrail, joint and pavement repair, and others.
“On average, we assume new bridges have a 75-year life span and bridge rehabilitation projects add 15-30 years of life to a bridge. Generally, if a bridge is 60 years old or less and is showing minor to moderate deterioration, it’s a potential candidate for rehabilitation,” the report states.
Cedar Rapids’ poor bridges are undergoing repairs
In Cedar Rapids, 11 bridges currently are documented with a poor rating, of the 75 bridges owned by the city. Four of those already have had repairs and are awaiting reinspection, according to Cedar Rapids City Engineer Ken DeKeyser.
Repairs are starting this summer on two of the other poor-rated bridges — the Third Avenue bridge over the Cedar River, and the J Street Bridge over Prairie Creek — and repairs on three more have already been approved for funding in upcoming years.
“All but two of them actually have something in the works right now, and then those two are going to be recommended for funding between 2026 and 2030,” DeKeyser said.
The maintenance work on the J Street bridge has started and should be finished before the end of the summer. It will involve replacing guardrails and curbs along the bridge and doing a full overlay of concrete.
The work on the Third Avenue Bridge will begin this summer, as soon as the Second Avenue Bridge opens when work on the adjacent flood wall is complete. The Third Avenue Bridge work won’t be finished until next year because it has to be done in phases to maintain access to the Linn County Courthouse and Jail. It will involve structural repairs on the underside of the bridge, as well as some railing and stair replacements, according to Dekeyser.
Dekeyser said major bridge repairs like the Third Avenue and J Street projects should give the city another 10 to 20 years before the same issues need to be addressed again, but smaller bridge repair projects are common, especially in the spring when the city has to repair potholes and other damage caused by winter weather.
“Our streets, after the winter, get potholes in them, and we can go out there and it’s as easy as taking some asphalt and patching it up,” Dekeyser said. “It’s a little bit harder on a bridge, because we don’t have the side of the road to store equipment, and sometimes, the right of way is narrower, so we can’t just allow traffic through … We do a lot of periodic maintenance on it, just like we would a street. However, it’s a little more of a constrained area. So, there’s always concern that we’re constantly closing down bridges. Well, it’s regular maintenance.”
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters