(Ames, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Transportation, today (Friday) finalized its offers of funding for the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2026 City Bridge Program. For this funding cycle, funds were available to offer assistance to bridges that had 20 or more priority points. The final rankings are shown on the City Bridge Candidate Award List. Among the projects the DOT declined to fund, was:

• A west-south bridge on old U-S Highway 71 in Villisca, crossing the BNSF Railroad.
• A west-south bridge on 5th Avenue in Council Bluffs, crossing Indian Creek.

The DOT agreed to fund bridge projects in Corning (A west-south bridge over a stream on 8th Street), and in Manning (A west-north bridge on East Street, over Willow Creek).

The Iowa DOT annually makes Federal-aid 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, Federal and State Bridge Programs

The Qualified Bridge List (QBL) for cities has also been updated to include the FFY 2026 accepted awards. The updated City QBL can be found here. Beginning in October, the Iowa DOT will make another round of offers for Federal-aid and State funds to qualifying bridge projects. The number of offers will depend on the funds available.