Iowa Tops List Of Crappy Bridges… Again

For many Quad Citians, the new I-74 bridge can't get finished soon enough.

I know a lot of people who dread driving across the existing I-74 bridge. Many drivers find it too narrow, others say they don't like feeling so close to the water. Others drivers insist they feel it shaking every time they drive across.

If you ask the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, they'd agree with many Q-C drivers. According to a report by our partners at Local 4 News, Iowa ranked first in the nation for the number of structurally deficient bridges. But, it was the Interstate 280 bridge over the Mississippi and the Centennial Bridge that ranked worst on the list.

Illinois didn't fare much better, ranking 5th on the list with 2,600 deficient crossings.

The cost to fix this deficient infrastructure is in the multiple billions of dollars. At that price, we'll just have to cross our fingers and gun it across these bridges.