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Cedar Co. lands $10.52M for bridge
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · November 06, 2024
Cedar County will get a $10.52 million grant for a $15.5 million project to replace the 1,200-foot Rochester bridge.
The U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley on Oct. 31 announced $44.64 million in grants to replace eight bridges in seven counties in Iowa.
Of that, $38.64 million will go toward a joint project led by Washington County to remove and replace seven bridges in six counties, the largest of which is the Rochester bridge on F44/290th Street.
“We’ve been hoping and waiting to get this for a couple of years,” Cedar County Engineer Robert “Rob” Fangmann said. “It’s full speed ahead now.”
Cedar County tried twice before but failed to acquire the Bridge Investment Program (BIP) funding. In 2022, the county estimated the work at $12 million, a difference of $3.5 million.
Fangmann said the county did receive $2 million from the Iowa Department of Transportation to help offset the cost, leaving about $2.98 million still to cover from its own budget. He expects the Board of Supervisors to pull the remainder from its Farm to Market account.
“Three million is still better than $15.5 million,” Fangmann said.
The new bridge will increase the width from 26 to 40 feet, so Cedar County will need to acquire some right-of-ways, though that should not change the path it takes or the height over the Cedar River, he said.
Bundling the Rochester bridge with other projects helped attract the U.S. DOT funding, according to both Fangmann and Washington County Engineer Jacob Thorius.
“The Iowa Engineers Association looked at this and figured this was the best opportunity to replace some big, difficult-to-fund structures and felt grouping them together as one bigger project would be a little more appealing ... to show we’re working together and trying to make improvements to a variety of structures across the state, particularly in Eastern Iowa,” Thorius said.
Washington County will take the lead on the combined projects, working with Fangmann and other county engineers, serving as a liaison to the Iowa DOT, and administering the grant funds.
“We’re very pleased” to get the funding, Thorius said.
Washington County will bid the projects as one large contract, and the Iowa DOT will select the winning bidder with input from the counties, he said.
Thorius does not know if the winning bidder will be required to do all the work at once or if the Iowa DOT will allow the projects to be spread out.
“Big structures require multiple crews,” Thorius said, referring to subcontractors. “We will try to leave some flexibility for the (general) contractors.”
Fangmann said he expects the state to give the contractor a certain number of years to complete them all.
Either way, both he and Thorius said much of the preliminary design work is already complete. Thorius noted that Washington County also failed to receive funding twice before for its 800-foot bridge.
“We’ve got some work to do,” Thorius said.
Grassley noted in a statement that he supported the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IJJA) that came up with the bridge funding.
“Iowans consistently raise concerns about the safety of our bridges, and rightfully so — our bridges need upgrades,” the statement read. “That’s one of the reasons I voted for the bipartisan infrastructure law. These grants will improve commuter safety and flood resilience, and strengthen our regional supply chain to help get Iowa products to market.”
Fangmann said Cedar County has the resources to replace small bridges, but the Rochester bridge is too big.
“We can’t do that internally,” he said.
The engineer said the Rochester bridge was originally built in 1948 as a “riveted” structure, which is a unique way to build a bridge, possibly making it historic in nature.
Fangmann said the county is currently in talks with the Cedar County Historical Society to possibly create a separate kiosk dedicated to the bridge’s history.
“Over a certain age, it might have been the longest bridge west of the Mississippi River at one time,” he said.
Several steel arches — Fangmann called this a “steel arch girder” design — support the road over the Cedar River. The rust that has developed over 76 years makes replacing the feasible option, he said.
The bridge gets inspected every two years, Fangmann said, and corrosion led to it received a “poor” rating.
“It’s Iowa’s salt conditions,” the engineer said. The more it deteriorates, the more the county will decrease the weight limit it can endure. “We want to avoid closure.”
Thorius said Washington County will get $7.9 million, Hamilton County will get $4.97 million, Buchanan County will get $4.3 million, Jones County will get $5.4 million, and Monroe County will get $5.4 million.
Monroe is removing two bridges and replacing them with one to span Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad tracks.
The remaining $6 million from the Iowa grants will go toward the 8th Avenue Arc of Justice bridge in Cedar Rapids, which already received $56.4 million in federal funding in April.
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