The Iowa Department of Transportation has finalized its offers of funding for the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2022 City Bridge Program. For this funding cycle, funds were available to offer assistance to 32 bridges that had 19 or more priority points. The final rankings are shown on the City Bridge Candidate List.

Among the bridge projects the DOT that were offered funding in the FY22 City Bridge Program, are those in Villisca, Council Bluffs, Adel, and Red Oak. All but Adel declined the offer through Federal-aid swap. The Iowa DOT annually makes Federal-aid Swap and State funds available for the purposes of reducing the number of “Poor” bridges (formerly known as Structurally Deficient or Functionally Obsolete bridges) on the local roadway system. Bridges are ranked to receive funding based on a priority point system explained in Local Systems I.M. 1.100, Federal and State Bridge Programs.

The worksheet used to calculate the priority points is in Attachment A to I.M. 1.100. Priority points for each section of the worksheet were calculated using information from the bridge’s latest inspection approved in the Structure Inventory and Inspection Management System (SIIMS). Beginning in November, the Iowa DOT will make another round of offers for Federal-aid Swap and State funds to qualifying bridge projects, as detailed in I.M. 1.100. The number of offers will depend on the funds available.

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If a city wishes to place a bridge on the candidate list, the city should submit a request, on city letterhead, that includes the following:

• The Federal Structural Number (FHWA #)
  • Street name
  • Feature crossed
  • The most recent cost estimate available

The request needs to be signed by a city official (for example City Engineer, Public Works Director, City Clerk, Mayor, etc.) Requests for FFY 2023 are due by Friday October 1, 2021. The evaluations of the bridges will be based on the most recent bridge inspection approved in SIIMS by September 30, 2021. Please send requests to Sarah.Okerlund@IowaDOT.us.

If a city has previously placed a bridge on the candidate list that was not selected this year, it will remain on the list until the city is offered and accepts funding or the city requests that we remove a bridge from the candidate list. If a city has a bridge on the list and wants it removed for any reason, please contact me. Upon request of the city, any bridge removed from the list may be added back at any time, provided the bridge remains in “poor” condition.