The director of the Iowa Department of Transportation says in the past 11 years, the number of “structurally deficient” bridges on state-maintained highways in Iowa has been reduced by 80 percent.
And Iowa D-O-T director Mark Lowe expects just 46 state-owned bridges to be classified as “structurally deficient” when the state budgeting year ends on June 30th.
The Iowa D-O-T’s website has an “Iowa Bridge Condition Index” which indicates whether a state-maintained bridge is in good, fair or poor condition. The D-O-T notes that if a bridge is rated in good condition, that means it is “adequate for today’s traffic and vehicle loads.” Bridges rated in poor condition are “NOT unsafe,” according to the D-O-T, but should be considered for repair, replacement and additional monitoring — or perhaps limits on the weight of vehicles that may travel over the bridge. The vast majority of Iowa bridges — 24-thousand — are on highways, roads and streets maintained by cities and counties.
