Iowa infrastructure ranks 9th worst in the country, says new index

Shelby Fleig | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Iowa leads the nation in deficient bridges According to a construction industry report released in February, almost 56,000 U.S. bridges are structurally deficient. The report includes more than 5,000 bridges in Iowa.

Structurally deficient bridges and poor roads have landed Iowa in the No. 9 spot on a new ranking of the nation's worst infrastructure.

A new index by financial news company 24/7 Wall St. notes that more than 20 percent of Iowa’s 24,215 bridges are deemed “structurally deficient” by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration. Inspectors consider bridges rated 4 or below on a scale of 0 (failed) through 9 (excellent) to be structurally deficient.

“A bridge with a poor condition index rating is not unsafe but should be considered for repair, replacement, restriction posting, weight limits or monitoring on a more frequent basis,” according to the Iowa Department of Transportation website.

Iowa drivers cross structurally deficient bridges more than 1.3 million times each day, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

Two of the state's most-traveled structurally deficient bridges are in Polk County: The state Highway 415 overpass crossing NW 66th Street (built in 1942), just north of Des Moines, and the Second Avenue bridge over Birdland Drive (built in 1936) in Des Moines.

More: Editorial: Where will Iowa get money to repair troubled bridges?

Iowa's roads rank only slightly better. Almost 9 percent of state roads are in poor condition, according to Federal Highway Administration data included in the index.

Extreme changes in weather, or "freeze-thaw cycles," are the biggest threat to road conditions, said Iowa Department of Transportation District Engineer Scott Schram.

“When you’ve got severe winters, water freezes and expands, and pavement will deteriorate as a result,” Schram said. The harsh winter was "followed by May, when we had multiple days in a row at 100 degrees. Those extremes take a toll."

Iowa is 11th in the nation for roads in poor condition, the FHA reports, despite spending $684 per driver on state highways annually, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows. Iowa's spending is the 12th highest in the nation.

The Iowa DOT has budgeted nearly $2 billion for state highway improvements through 2023. In part because of a 10-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax, a near-state record $779 million worth of highway projects are ongoing, including the widening of a 40-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 20.

More: You can expect hectic year for road construction across Iowa; U.S. 20 four-lane almost finished statewide

“We’re trying to focus and only invest in expansion projects only where necessary, and really focus more on stewardship and maintaining the system we have today,” Schram said.

Finally, the infrastructure rankings show just 2.6 percent of Iowa's dams are considered "high hazard," the second-lowest rate in the nation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers classifies dams as "high hazard" when "loss of human life is likely if the dam fails."

There are 3,976 dams in Iowa, with 102 considered high hazard.