DES MOINES, Iowa — In the new 2023 Report Card for Iowa's infrastructure, civil engineers gave the state a "C" overall. While there have been some improvements since the last report, engineers say that addressing some of Iowa's long-term issues is more pressing than ever.
Officials with the American Society of Civil Engineers unveiled the report card at the Iowa capitol on April 11. The state's overall average hasn't changed since the last time the report was released in 2019.
But it is higher than the last national report card, which gave the country's infrastructure a "C-".
"The 2021 grade was actually the first time the nation's GPA had been out of the D range, and was an indication at the time that we were making modest improvements," said Erin Steever, Region 7 Director for the ASCE.
So what's been going well? The grade for Iowa's roads actually increased from "C+" in 2019 to a "B-".
Around 25% of the state's roads are considered poor or mediocre, which is down 4% from the last report. Engineers say that further improvements should address traffic congestion to help reduce wear-and-tear.
"Increase transit frequency, freight planning, bike networks and roadway design to prioritize those modes to moving more goods and people within existing roadway capacity," said Aaron Moniza, who authored the roads section of the report card.
But there is some bad news, too. Iowa's bridges got a "D+". The Hawkeye state leads the nation in the number of structurally deficient bridges. According to the report card, the DOT has reduced the number of state-owned poor bridges by 26% in the last 4 years, but all but 30 of Iowa's poor bridges are actually owned by cities and counties.
"They faced serious funding constraints and reduce their poor bridge numbers only by 5% and 4% respectively. Locally owned bridge improvements require significant investment," said Christy VanBuskirk, chair of the report card project.