According to Washington County Engineer Jacob Thorius, there are around 40 bridges in the county deemed structurally deficient, and they can’t get to all of them in a single year. However, Thorius says the engineer’s office has a slate of projects this year to reduce that number, “We’ve got three bridge deck overlay projects that are going to happen. One on G36 just north of Washington, kind of between Highway 1 and Riverside Road. Then we’ve got one bridge up there by the West Chester quarry. And then the third one is down by Noble, north of there on W62.”

A bridge is deemed structurally deficient when it can no longer hold the weight it was originally intended for. The State of Iowa has the largest number of structurally deficient bridges in the country.

In addition to the three primary bridge projects, Thorius says they’ll also tackle several smaller bridges this year. They have consultants working on designs for a bridge in southwest Washington County that would begin construction in early 2018. Thorius says they usually plan bridge work with a five-year outlook, and they identify the bridges in most dire need of repair or upgrades. The engineer’s office will inform the public whenever bridge construction is about to begin, and they ask people to be patient as the work is progressing.