A record for roads

Two of the most common concerns I hear are about roads not getting fix and too much road construction.

Our local department of transportation folks are constantly reviewing road conditions, monitoring traffic flow and putting projects in the pipeline. Like everything else, costs have increased and so has transportation investments.

Fiscal Year 2023 saw record spending on roads and bridges in Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. DOT announced that spending on transportation projects for the year amounted to $1.47 billion, which is a combination of state and federal transportation funding provided to the department.

This amount funded 839 projects throughout the state during the fiscal year. The spending was broken down by DOT to include:

· $274.5 million on the farm-to-market road system;

· $358 million on the state’s interstate system;

· $26.8 million in the secondary road system; and

· $136.8 million in urban roads and bridges.

This year’s spending continued the department’s efforts to address the condition of Iowa’s bridges. Since 2006, DOT had made a concerted effort to repair or replace state-owned bridges that were found to be in poor condition. Over the last 17 years, this number has fallen from 256 to just 23 currently. There are still a number of poor-condition bridges that are part of the county road system, and counties are working to reduce those numbers as well.

Rep. Megan Jones, R-Sioux Rapids, serves parts of Clay and Buena Vista counties in Iowa House District 6.