DOT releases five-year plan, with warning

The Iowa Department of Transportation on Tuesday unveiled a five-year preliminary highway spending plan worth an estimated $2.7 billion, although officials warned it could be slashed if Congress doesn’t fix road funding problems.

The highway program, which covers fiscal years 2015 through 2019, focuses on safety, maintenance and modernization of Iowa’s road system, officials said. It includes more than $1.2 billion to upgrade existing state highways, and for enhanced safety features.

The program also spends more than $900 million on state-owned bridges. Over the last five years, the number of structurally deficient bridges on the state’s highway system has been cut in half, down to 117 as of 2013, officials said.

The plan includes major reconstruction work on Interstate Highway 29 in Sioux City, the interstate system in Council Bluffs, and the replacement of the Mississippi River bridge on Interstate Highway 74 in Bettendorf that links Iowa and Illinois.

In the Des Moines area, the plan includes the improvement of Iowa Highway 141 from Iowa Highway 44 to Interstate Highway 35/80.

While almost all previously programmed multiyear corridor improvement projects will remain on schedule, DOT officials said they are limited from adding more. This is because of flat or uncertain revenue at the federal and state level, increasing construction costs, and the need to invest in the existing highway system, officials said.

State officials also expressed concerns about the solvency of the federal highway trust fund beyond August 2014. If this is not corrected by Congress, the commission will be forced to make major cuts to some Iowa road projects, officials said.

The draft program is posted and available for public comment on the Iowa DOT’s website at www.iowadot.gov/program_management/five_year.html. The Iowa Transportation Commission, the DOT’s policy-making arm, is scheduled to consider final approval of the program on June 10 at a meeting in Perry.