Henry County will receive $4 million for bridge replacement

MT. PLEASANT — As part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) Discretionary Grant program, Henry County will receive $4 million toward the cost to replace the 235th Street bridge over Big Creek.

“The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced a raise grant award of $24.76 million for the construction of nine county bridges in Iowa,” Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss read at the department head meeting last Tuesday.

“Henry County's 235th Street Bridge over Big Creek located on Business 34 west of Mount Pleasant is one of the nine bridges included in the grant,” he continued. “The estimated cost for the replacement of the Henry County Bridge is $5 million. The grant will pay for 80% or $4 million. The remainder of the funds will be paid through our county’s Farm to Market Fund.”

According to Hotchkiss, this project will begin in the summer of 2025 and last approximately eight months.

Hotchkiss attributes the successful acquisition of these funds to the combined efforts of Clay, Crawford, Lee, Lucas, Page, Pottawattamie, Mitchell, and Worth counties.

“That’s just shy of $25 million to Iowa that wasn’t already allocated to Iowa,” Hotchkiss said. “For the Iowa County Engineers, it's huge because this is the first large grant that we worked together and have taken the chance or risk of forming this group together to work with consultants to go after these funds that we normally don’t stand a chance to get. So, it’s exciting.”

Hotchkiss provided more background for how bridge repairs and replacements are normally funded.

“It varies each year because it’s based on our conditions and our bridges, but we usually get anywhere from $400-700 thousand a year in our bridge fund to over the 120 bridges in the county,” he said. “So if you think about $5 million and how many years of our bridge program would be used just to replace one bridge …”

“This is a huge relief,” Hotchkiss said before the room Board of Supervisors’ office, filled with department heads, erupted in applause at the good news.

“it's a big improvement for Henry County, and I think it's a good testament to Iowa that we were successful,” Hotchkiss said.

Hotchkiss plans to continue his work with the committee to continue bringing these kinds of funds into the state.

“That was obviously a well-orchestrated concentrated effort to get that done and we appreciate that,” Supervisor Chad White commented.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com