IDOT: Bridge collapse may mean more road construction funding
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By Todd Dorman | Friday, August 03, 2007 |
TODAY: (Updated 2:07 p.m.) DES MOINES — State lawmakers say the collapse of an interstate bridge in Minneapolis may add new weight to pleas from Iowa transportation officials for more road construction funding.
A legislative committee is scheduled to meet in the next several weeks with the assignment of shoring up Iowa’s shrinking road fund. Members say this week’s tragedy could affect those deliberations.
“It does dramatize the importance of road and bridge systems. We tend to take these things for granted,” said Sen. Steve Warnstadt, D-Sioux City, a member of the eight-member panel. “People don’t pay attention until there’s a failure. Policymakers need to focus on preventing that.”
The Iowa Department of Transportation has tried for months to grab the attention of state lawmakers.
The DOT handed legislators a report in December detailing a widening gap between a dwindling road use tax fund and a growing list of “critical” road projects. Officials say the department needs at least an additional $200 million annually to maintain and repair the state’s roads.
Among those pressing needs are repairs to hundreds of “structurally deficient” bridges, most on rural county roads.
But lawmakers have been reluctant to boost funding. Growing the road fund would likely mean raising Iowa’s gas tax, increasing vehicle registration fees, increasing the price of driver’s license fees or a combination of politically touchy options that most lawmakers have yet to embrace.
So instead of taking action this year, they formed a committee to study the issue.
“We definitely have our work cut out. And everything’s on the table,” said Rep. Jim Lykam, D-Davenport, who is on the study committee. “Our roads and bridges are breaking up faster than we can fix them.”
Rep. David Tjepkes, R-Gowrie, tried and failed to push a bipartisan funding road map through the House in the final days of the 2007 session. He thinks this week’s tragedy will refocus attention on the issue.
“I’m hoping the by-product of this is it makes people take that second look,” Tjepkes said.”The quality of our bridges is critical to our transportation needs.”
Iowa has nearly 25,000 bridges, with 19,799 on rural secondary roads. A structurally deficient bridge, according to the department, has an existing structural condition that requires “monitoring and corrective action.”
According to the report to lawmakers in December, the number of structurally deficient bridges on the state’s primary road system jumped from 171 in 1999 to 256 in 2005. That deterioration has added $136 million to repair costs.
In municipalities, 252 bridges are deficient, according to the report.
More than 4,000 deficient bridges are on rural county roads. Officials estimate that 350 bridges need to be replaced each year just to maintain current conditions.
Under the Iowa DOT plan, the state would get 60 percent of any new road dollars, while cities and counties would each get 20 percent shares.
But there will be no new money without legislative action, and Democrats who control the Statehouse say they won’t move to increase taxes or fees without the help of Republicans. That’s why leaders took the unusual step of forming a study committee with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans.
“I’m real optimistic we’re going to be able to do it,” said Sen. Tom Rielly, D-Oskaloosa, the panel’s co-chair. “This goes to the safety of Iowans and the economic development of Iowa.”
IOWA’S ROAD FUND
Iowa’s roughly $1.1 billion road use tax fund is fueled mainly by gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees. But it also rakes in money from driver’s license fees, use taxes on new vehicles, motor carrier fines and interest payments.
The state charges a 21-cent per-gallon tax on regular unleaded gasoline. The tax is 19 cents on gas blended with 10 percent ethanol and 17 cents for E85. Iowa’s gas tax has not been raised since 1989.
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