Iowa worst in nation for bridges

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - A report from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association shows Iowa has the worst bridges in the country.

It says almost 15,000 bridges need repairs in the state.

Bridges are kind of like rubber bands.

A normal car or pick up truck barely puts any stress on a bridge.

But when larger vehicles like semi trucks travel over them they start to wear down.

In addition, an Iowa law that went into effect two years ago allows trucks with a permit to carry 12% more weight - which means even more stress.

Over time, bridges lose their strength and need repaired or replaced.

Linn County engineer, Garret Reddish, said a lot of Iowa’s bridges in need of repairs are the ones with low traffic.

“If a bridge is a million or half a million dollars to replace but that road only sees 50 cars a day, sometimes it’s hard to justify that investment,” Reddish said.

When those bridges don’t get repaired they may get a load limit.

Reddish said those load limits can make it harder for farmers to move their crops.

“Obviously we don’t want any bridges to fail when something’s crossing it but also ag equipment or just other haulers can’t cross a load posted bridge. It affects their mobility,” Reddish said.

He said cities and counties provide some funds for rebuilds and repairs but its a statewide issue and there’s just not enough.

“Funding of course is a barrier. There’s more bridges that need attention than there’s funding in place to repair them,” Reddish said.