The Gazette from Cedar Rapids, Iowa • 6

6A The Galeae. March 30. 2003 GAZETTE SPECIAL REPORT Paying for needed bridges no easy matter hlmlpTw Things to look for in a bridge inspection I Orr ill i pkyaal cmAmk Mkr for cracks, L'en pan 01 COSt deteroratm. section loss, mata I tot kiardrais mducfeig sidewalks and expanswn devices. Conations analyzed rcJude cncfcs.

scaing. apwnfc leaching, chloride con-taminatlon or potholes concrete decks; broken Inducing pars, abutments, pies, footiigs. ComMons analyzed include cracks. lost sections, seWemsnt, scouring, coision damage and corrosion. The Gazette LUZERNE Railroad tracks cleave this tiny town.

A one-lane. 100-year-old bridge over the tracks links the halves. Losing the bridge would be disaster, townspeople agree. But only 105 people live in Luzerne, and their property taxes yield only $11,000 a year, City Clerk Janice Kendall said. A new bridge sill cost about $600,000, said Myron Parizek, Benton County engineer.

Luzerne qualifies for a federal program that will pay 80 percent, and Parizek has helped city officials apply through the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). But with a total annual $25,000 budget, Luzerne is hard-pressed to come up Hi gnu OMRS ana rotting, crusnmg, rastener Mar or splitting in wooden decks. Source: federal Highway Admmstratton Iowa will receive about $50 million this year from the federal government for bridge replacement, state and federal officials said. Of that, about $22 million will go to counties, $6 million to cities and $22 million will be Kurt HogahnThe Gazette County route F-52 (Black Diamond Road) crosses Old Man's Creek in southwestern Johnson County on this example of a "functionally obsolete" bridge. Although the bridge carries no weight restrictions, it is narrow (one lane) and its high truss carries a height restriction of 11 feet, three inches.

This bridge is slated to be replaced in 2007. with the Exchange St 77th St Dr. jjijJ $120,000 local match. "Were going to talk to the county board," said Kendall. The city also may seek help used by the state.

Still, the federal dollars won't go far enough to replace all of the hundreds of bridges on low-traffic Gazette graphic ges built to handle more traffic would cost more. "The needs are always greater than the funding available," said Michael McClain, Jones County engineer. Yet, taxpayers say they already pay enough. "What sticks in my craw," said Jerome Ries, who farms near Ryan in Delaware County, "is when taxes were 20 cents an acre, they put up all these steel bridges across Buffalo Creek. Now they're taxing us at 25 bucks an acre, and we can't replace them." IN IOWA County, about half of the county's $4.4 million budget goes to roads and bridges.

Still, road and bridge work must be balanced against other county services and departments, said Iowa County Supervisors Chair man John Tibben. And consider the revenue stream. "Take Dayton Township, in southwest Iowa County, or any one of the southern tier of townships," Tibben continued. "The roads portion for the Gazette map er, counting distributions to the county and its cities and Iowa DOT projects, Linn County will receive nearly $26 million in road-use tax funds this year, and Johnson County will receive $20.2 million, said Stuart Ander son of the Office of Systems Planning in the Iowa Depart ment of Transportation. The Legislature is not likely to take up the Chamber Alliance proposal this year.

Nor are pros pects good for a study bill pend ing before the Senate Transpor tation Committee that would, among other points, transfer some state highways to counties, and raise the minimum "local effort" for counties to qualify for their full share of road use tax funding. That would amount to the Legislature telling certain counties to raise property taxes to pay for roads and bridges. know how he could run his department with 53 percent to 57 percent less funding. Buchanan County Supervisors Chairman Leo Donnelly noted that accident rates per capita are higher on county roads. Cut road and bridge maintenance, and conditions will worsen, he said, pushing accident rates even higher.

BUT THE CURRENT system keeps some projects, such as a four-lane Highway 30 across Iowa, from being completed, and amounts to subsidizing rural areas by cities and urban counties, said Ron Corbett, president of the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. He said Linn County, for instance, contributes more than it gets back. Determining a county's exact contribution is difficult. Howev rural tax levy for the entire township I don't know the exact number does not exceed $15,000 a year. You can't do very much with $15,000.

That's for motor-grading, snow plowing, the whole works." Urban and rural interests are squaring off over how road-use taxes that could help pay for bridges get distributed. Now, 47.5 percent of road-use tax funds go to the state for primary roads. Counties get 32.5 percent for secondary and farm-to-market roads. Cities get the rest. The Iowa Chamber Alliance, a 15-city coalition that includes chambers in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Dubuque, has proposed that the state take half the funding and that cities and counties each get 25 percent.

Jackson County Engineer Clark Schloz said he doesn't from the Union Pacific Railroad, but holds little hope for it. THE HUNDREDS of Iowa bridges needing replacement will cost money. While the last traffic count showed at least 340 vehicles a day using Luzerne's bridge, dozens of Iowa's bridges needing replacement see only 10 or 20 vehicles a day. They're still open, but for how long? And where would Iowans find money to replace them? back roads and byways. That $22 million, divided among 99 counties, means six-figure appropriations for seven-figure needs.

Benton County, for instance, will receive about $231,000 this fiscal year. Bridge replacement for crossing a small stream with a low-traffic road, depending on method of construction, can run $50 a square foot, said Bruce Brakke, bridge maintenance engineer with the Iowa DOT. Bigger brid- Bridges. Counties typically own most of Iowa's problem bridges From page 1A About this special report Structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges Bridges deftowt Fanctionaly obsolete Ownership: Ownership: TaM i TtM tSa teal Ob '-'mm TaW ttatfjrp aar 363 Benton 57 51 1 3 1 rail, 1 unknown 9 3 4 1 1 unknown 309 Buchanan 38 37 1 rail 32 24 7 1 311 Cedar 78 71 3 2 2raM 25 18 6 1 294 Delaware 46 44 1 rail, 1 township 12 9 3 272 Iowa 64 59 4 1 16 13 2 Ira 354 Johnson 46 31 6 6 1 ral, 2 unknown 28 10 13 5 238 Jones 39 38 1 31 17 8 5 Istatepark 457 linn 68 51 1 16 I 33 1 8 16 1 9 The Gazette's examination of bridges in Iowa began with receipt of a CD from the Federal Highway Administration Infrastructure Office of Bridge Technology that contains data on more than 25,000 bridges in the state. Examining it with database software not only helped frame questions to ask local and state officials, but identified specific deficient and closed bridges.

Reporter Kurt Rogahn personally viewed the undersides of such deficient bridges as the Meadow Street Bridge in Iowa City, State Street in Ely, Beverly Road and Bertram Road in rural Linn County, and on county route D-47 just outside Quas-queton in Buchanan County during his investigation. The topsides of numerous other bridges also were visited. Among sources interviewed, in person or by phone, were residents affected by bride closings in Iowa, Benton and Delaware counties; and county engineers in Benton, Buchanan, Delaware, Iowa, Jackson, Johnson, Jones and Linn counties. Phone contact was made with dozens of school transportation directors in those and other counties, determining which school districts are inconvenienced by bridge postings and closings. A vivid example is the dne-lane vintage 1935 bridge on Black Diamond Road over Old Man's Creek in Johnson County, just before route F-52 crosses into Iowa County.

City, county and state engineers all say bridges need to be closed before they endanger people. Proof is found in the shutdown of the Edgewood Road bridge in Cedar Rapids in December for safety reasons. But Iowans could spend more than $1.8 billion if they were to. replace all of the state's deficient bridges, according to a summary at www. national bridgeinventory.com, a site maintained by transportation software developer Sandia Analytics.

Virtually everyone Mark Wandro, Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) director, talks with agrees Iowa has too many roads. But the realities of Note: AH figures are from 2002 inventory, based on inspections in 2001 and 2002. Gazette graphic Source: Gazette analysis of Federal Highway Administration reports Fix-it funds county politics can thwart any political will to and timber pilings can rot from the inside out. Routine inspections can disrupt routines. A regular inspection of the four-lane Cedar River bridge on Edgewood Road a major route for- moving traffic north and south on the west side of Cedar Rapids in mid-December disclosed fatigue cracks in two steel beams, closing the road for more than two weeks.

Two lanes reopened Dec. 30, and the bridge was back to close them, he 2Mtida said. As Iowa County Engineer Vince Eh-lert put it: "Should there be this many bridges in rural Vince ENert Iowa County engineer Kurt RogahnThe Gazette County route F-52 (Black Diamond Road) crosses Old Man's Creek in southwestern Johnson County on this example of a "functionally obsolete" bridge. Although the bridge carries no weight restrictions, it is narrow (one lane) and its high truss carries a height restriction of 11 feet 3 inches. This bridge is slated to be replaced in 2007.

areas? I guess it depends on whose bridge you are talking about." Kahler and his Iowa County neighbor, Harlon Denning, both expressed concern about elderly normal on Jan. 13. Inspections can be subjective, engineers agree. Counties can do their own inspections, or hire consultants, or do a combination of both. Mike Gardner Johnson County engineer Iowa will receive an estimated $50 million from the federal government for bridge replacement.

Pending appropriations bills could boost that, said Larry Jesse, director of local systems for the Iowa Department of Transportation. Allocations to counties are based one-third on a needs study and two-thirds on the county's square footage of structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges. Estimated distributions to Eastern Iowa counties: Benton, $231,000 Buchanan, $253,000 Cedar, $327,000 Delaware, $210,000 Iowa, $335,000 Johnson, $189,000 Jones, $297,000 Linn, $301,000 the weight-restricted Bertram Road bridge over Indian Creek in Linn County. That's remarkable service for something built the year Custer fought the battle of Little Big Horn, said Brian Keierleber, Buchanan County engineer. But some counties also are replacing a few precast concrete bridges dating from as recently as the 1970s and 1980s because the bridges just haven't held up.

Bridges on Iowa's main routes aren't much of a problem. Look instead at Iowa's secondary roads. That's where more problems lie and more passions. Many of these rural roads, laid out on one-mile grids intended to serve agriculture, have low traffic counts. "But they all serve somebody, every one of them," the DOT'S Wandro said.

Moreover, "many bridges on those roads are reaching the end of their useful life." As farms have consolidated, since it closed, he must drive all the way through Ladora or to Marengo just to check crops. "Instead of driving five-and-a-half miles to get to the fields, I have to drive nine-and-a-half or 10 miles." Iowa County has at least" 17 closed bridges. Three of the seven bridges spanning Big Bear Creek between Marengo and Victor are closed. Sixty-four bridges in Iowa County were rated structurally deficient, and another 16 as functionally obsolete. The county owns most of the problem bridges.

That's typical in Iowa. Counties own about 20,000 of Iowa's bridges, or four of every five. The state owns a little more than 4,100, or 16 percent of the bridges, and only 17 state-owned bridges carry weight restrictions. Cities and townships own a little less than 1,000 bridges in Iowa. Railroads own 90.

The push for inspections A bridge collapse with fatalities in 1967 prompted Congress to require formal state inspection programs, said Bruce Brakke, DOT bridge maintenance engineer. The National Bridge Inspection Standards call for Structure Inventory and Appraisal reports that break a bridge into elements: deck, superstructure, substructure. A 0-to-9 rating is given each element, with 9 as top grade. Bridge inspection generally is visual, Brakke said, although research is being done to develop sensors on bridges to transmit alerts if threatening cracks develop. Visual inspection has its limits.

Cracks in metal aren't always readily apparent. neighbors who live near the blockaded HH Avenue bridge. "If we had a fire or needed an ambulance, it's five miles over gravel roads from Marengo or three miles over gravel roads from La-dora," Denning Harlon Denning "I've raised hell with the supervisors" the Iowa Valley Community School District of Marengo. Rick Frimml, the district's transportation director, estimated that driving to Ladora adds 1,000 miles a year to bus routes. Plus, the bus backtracks a few more miles each day in a nearby neighborhood because of weight limits on another rural bridge.

Most Eastern Iowa school transportation directors report they are not barred from crossing any bridge with a school bus. Some exceptions: Iowa City Community buses cannot cross the Meadow Street bridge in Iowa City, and Cedar Rapids Community buses on field trips to the Indian Creek Nature Center cannot cross the 19th-century Bertram Road bridge. Dwight Heitman, who lives several miles south of ground he farms on both sides of the HH Avenue bridge, said he couldn't take equipment over it when the bridge was open. But equipment has grown in size, Wandro continued. Aging rural bridges cannot accommodate those loads, so they are embargoed.

Some will have to be replaced. That will be expensive, Wandro said, because a bridge that is several hundred feet long can cost as much to replace as one mile of road. Bridges of Iowa County Iowa County's HH Avenue bridge is believed to date from 1910. Before the bridge was closed, it had a five-ton weight limit. Ehlert said its replacement will be shifted to correct its poor alignment with the road, and is scheduled to be built in 2004.

But Kahler said the county has promised a new bridge before. He won't believe it "until I see the 'dozers unloading." Closing the HH Avenue bridge in Iowa County has add-ed to transportation costs for Inspections ultimately help Congress distribute funds for bridge replacement. Johnson County Engineer Mike Gardner said the National Bridge Inventory is a good aid in making decisions at the state and local level on what bridges should be repaired or replaced. Buchanan County's Keierleber said, "If it wasn't mandated, it probably wouldn't get done." Still, terms arising from the bridge inspections "structurally deficient" and "functionally obsolete" can sound more alarming than they really are. Neither term means a bridge is about to fall down.

"I can't emphasize that enough," said Brakke. "If it cannot carry a legal load, we post it. The bridge capacity may be only four tons, but then we post it." Contact the writer: (319) or kun.rogahngazettecommunications.mm said. "I've raised heft with the supervisors over this," said Denning, who has lived here since 1969. "We can't keep our vehicles clean in nice weather, and we're the last to get plowed out when it snows." Farm equipment heavier Most of Iowa's problem bridges are just plain old.

A 2002 inventory shows three dating from 1876. One of the three is.