(The Center Square) – The Iowa Transportation Commission formally proposed Tuesday that Iowa spend $4.3 billion in state and federal funding on highway and bridge projects over the next five years.
The Iowa Transportation Commission approved at its June 13 meeting the fiscal year 2024-2028 Iowa Transportation Improvement Program, which is a non-binding document of investments across aviation, public transportation, railroads, trails and highways. The commission annually advises the Iowa Department of Transportation with a list of transportation projects for the upcoming five years. The program includes projects on the state highway system. Cities and counties handle planning for their own roads.
The projects are consistent with the State Long-Range Transportation Plan’s goals and data-based to ensure projects are necessary for modern, safe and efficient transportation, according to a news release.
The commission proposed to delay several projects by up to a year since the cost for constructing roads and bridges has risen significantly over the past year while funding has largely remained the same, the board said in the program document. The commission didn’t remove any projects from last year’s program.
Projects that improve safety and condition of existing state highways and bridges get priority, according to the release. The program dedicates more than $3.5 billion for these projects. With the past 17 years of investments, the number of poor-condition bridges on the state highway system has dropped from 256 in 2006 to 26 this year.
The board said in the program document that the department should dedicate more than $1.3 billion for additional bridge investments.
For the interstate system, the commission proposed the following projects which include adding lanes, replacing major river crossings and modernizing interchanges to improve safety and future traffic:
- I-80 Middle Road Interchange reconstruction in Bettendorf.
- I-80 Mississippi River bridge replacement.
- I-35/80/235 Southwest Mixmaster modernization in Polk County.
- I-380 widening from 120th Street to U.S. 30 (including Wright Brothers interchange reconstruction) in Linn County.
- I-35 bridge replacement and widening at the U.S. 30 interchange in Ames.
- I-35 widening between Ankeny and Iowa 210.
- I-29 Madison Avenue interchange reconstruction in Council Bluffs.
- I-29 interchange construction in Woodbury County.
- Addition of more than 100 truck parking spots.
Projects to improve safety and roads function include the following:
- Iowa 21 near Belle Plaine and Iowa 333 in Hamburg to improve access during times of flooding.
- U.S. 75 north of Sioux Center to the south junction of U.S. 18 to replace aging pavement.
- Iowa 149 Des Moines River Bridge to Woodland Avenue in Ottumwa to replace aging pavement.
- Iowa 12 Gordon Drive Bridge in Sioux City to replace an aging viaduct.
- Iowa 58 Greenhill Road Interchange in Waterloo to replace an existing at-grade intersection.
- U.S. 151 Interchange with Linn County Road X-20 at Springville to replace an existing at-grade intersection.
- U.S. 30 Interchange at 610th Avenue at Nevada to replace an existing at-grade intersection.
- Super-2 improvements on U.S. 63 in Tama County to provide more passing opportunities.
- Iowa 9 Mississippi River Bridge replacement at Lansing.
“The transportation system you use every day is constantly being evaluated and data is collected and analyzed to determine how to best invest your tax dollars into making the system even better,” the release said.
